L’Espace géographique 3/02

Without summaries


Catherine RHEIN. Social integration, spatial integration.

The concept of “integration” is charged with so many different meanings today that it is difficult to apply it in a strict sense. Émile Durkheim defined integration a century ago in his inaugural work, The Division of Labour in Society. The concept was included in a theory of “wanting to live together”, a founding theory for both university sociology and the welfare state. The concept of integration has since been updated, particularly in recent decades by the sociology of immigration and political sociology.

keywords: CITIZENSHIP, DURKHEIM, SEGREGATION, SOCIAL INTEGRATION, SOCIOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE


Claude GRASLAND, Alina POTRYKOWSKA. Measures of spatial proximity: residential migration in Warsaw (10 tabl., 6 fig.)

The application of spatial interaction models to migration flows in an intra-urban environment should take into account the different types of geographical distance that influence flows within a city. Kilometric distance, topological distance, contiguity, and administrative and social discontinuities form a set of explanatory variables whose specific effects are difficult to dissociate without an adequate methodological framework. Poisson regression offers an interesting solution to this problem. Applied to residential migration in the Warsaw metropolitan area in 1985, it shows that the effect of kilometric distance is compounded by two barrier effects, one between the centre and the periphery of Warsaw, and the other between the western and the eastern bank of the Vistula. We could further enhance this model by combining factors of spatial proximity with measures of social proximity such as socio-economic similarities of the districts.

keywords: INTERACTION, MIGRATION, MODELLING, POLAND


Catherine CARRÉ. Time and spatial systems: sewerage in the Paris conurbation (4 fig.)

The municipal and departmental councils of the inner suburbs of Paris, in charge of sanitation for the conurbation, must build and upgrade sewerage to respond to current and future urban use. Geographical research on time in spatial systems is useful for understanding local and regional governments’ development choices. The inclusion of time in the action/reaction loop and the concept of “localised/localising events” are fundamental for explaining the duration of the sewer system. The malfunctions in existing facilities and the choices for new facilities are examined through public and private uses and their pace and history.

keywords: ACTION/REACTION, DISCONTINUITY, HISTORY, LOCALISED/LOCALISING EVENT, SCALES, TIME


Augustin BERQUE. Unsustainability in human settlements. Research on the history of disurbanity

The onto-geographical antinomy of the ecumene (inhabited land) and the ereme (uninhabited land) is here examined with respect to the loss of scale, fetishism and mechanicism proper to Cyborg’s settlements: the couple of automobile and cottage which, expressing its refusal of the city and its idealization of nature, entails in fact the destruction of the latter.

keywords: CYBORG, ECUMENE, EREME, SUSTAINABILITY, XINJIANG


Gérard REMY. Mobility of people and the spread of AIDS in West Africa (2 tabl., 1 fig.)

Infection by HIV1 is rising in West African towns, in core groups (prostitutes and their partners) and in the general female population. The spread of the virus shows discontinuities in time and space. Diverse forms of mobility of people are involved and conditioned throughout the social itinerary of the virus, at staged territorials levels. Their effectiveness varies, depending on the intensity of relations between places and between groups, on the activity of prostitution, and on the integration of migrants into the host community or the return of migrants to their home communities. The role of the migration factor appears particularly important outside the core groups, since the socio-cultural features of West Africa’s populations seem relatively unconducive to viral circulation.

keywords: HIV1 INFECTION, MOBILITY, SOCIO-GEOGRAPHICAL DYNAMICS, WEST AFRICA


Béatrice MÉBARD. Issues for the geography of health

The geography of health, at least French research in this field, is revising its hypotheses according to various contemporary directions. It is clarifying the principles of a socio-spatial analysis, extending its collaborations in a holistic perspective, but its approaches and probable horizons are not without ambiguity. Everyone can attempt to make corrections to expand on directions believed to reduce the risk of discord. The conclusion will therefore remain transitory...

keywords: GENERAL GEOGRAPHY, GEOGRAPHY OF HEALTH, EPISTEMOLOGY, HOLISTIC APPROACH TO HEALTH, PUBLIC AND COMMUNITY HEALTH


Nation-building before regional integration? (2 fig.)

Mali is accessible from the neighbouring countries by numerous networks and infrastructures: road, rail, river, and air. In the west of the country, the Kayes region borders on Senegal and is the entry point for everything that comes from Dakar. As the capital of French Sudan, the town of Kayes was once a key link between the colony of Senegal and the interior of Sudan. A large proportion of the town’s population today have Senegalese surnames and the railway has long been a link between Kayes and Senegal. However, Kayes is now part of Mali and must deal with the capital, Bamako. In this context, the road linking Kayes to Senegal is a highly revealing symbol of Mali’s attraction to and suspicion of Senegal.

keywords: COMMUNICATIONS, DEVELOPMENT, INFRASTRUCTURE, LANDLOCKED, MALI, SENEGAL


Laurent GRISON. Locus solus, threshold and low place: the Borough in Peter Grimes (1 fig., 2 photos)

This short text contains a geographical analysis of Benjamin Britten’s opera Peter Grimes. This attributes a specific value to a small port in south-eastern England: Aldeburgh, which carries the tragedy of the entire opera, is shown as a “low place” of humanity. A threshold allows a shift, both temporal and spatial, from the Borough to Peter.

keywords: ALDEBURGH (ENGLAND), FIGURE OF THE THRESHOLD, LOCUS SOLUS, LOW PLACE, SPACE WITHIN


Book reviews


In this issue of L’Espace géographique, you will find critical reviews of the following books

COURVILLE Serge (2000). Le Québec: genèses et mutations du territoire: synthèse de géographie historique. Québec/Paris: Les Presses de l’Université Laval/L’Harmattan, 508 p. (Hugh Clout, University College of London)

DAUPHINÉ André (2001). Risques et catastrophes. Observer, spatialiser, comprendre, gérer. Paris: Armand Colin, 288 p. (Charles-Pierre Péguy and Ivan Brissaud)

KOTKIN Joel (2000). Competing in the New Geography: Transformation Strategies for Cities and Regions. New York: Random House. (Antoine Bailly, université de Genève)

GHORRA-GOBIN Cynthia, dir. (2001). Réinventer le sens de la ville: Les espaces publics à l’heure globale. Paris: L’Harmattan, 266 p. (Anne-Lise Humain-Lamourre, DEA ATEG Paris 1)

SCOTT Allen (2001). Les Régions et l’économie mondiale. Paris: L’Harmattan, 187 p. (Philippe Cadène, université Paris 7)


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Last modified: September 30, 2002