MAPPEMONDE 1/96

Hervé THÉRY. French cultural cooperation in the World. (8 fig.)

Analysing the distribution worldwide of funds allocated by France to cultural cooperation (educational, linguistic, scientific and technical) shows that in both Departments in charge of international relations (Ministère des Affaires Étrangères and Ministère de la Coopération) high priority is still given to countries within France's historical zone of influence, although in some sectors more original strategies seem to be emerging.

Vladimir KLIMANOV, Denis ECKERT. Private Banks in Russia. (1 fig.)

The very quick expansion of private banks in Russia was accompanied by significant geographical polarization which mostly favoured Moscow. The analysis of the present banking system map is quite surprising since urban hierarchy is only partially respected.

JacquesWALLET. The dish antenna age. (2 fig.)

Janig CHEVAL. Foreign investments in Brittany (France) from 1988 to 1994. (3 fig.)

At the end of the 1980's, mostly British, but also German, Belgian, and Dutch purchasers have invested in rural real estate in Brittany. These purchases have rather been linked --more or less successfully-- to some projects dealing with the creation of tourism and leisure facilities. Presently this trend is considerably slowing down.

Alain PRAT. Ouagadougou, capital city of Sahel: urban growth and land-related stake. (6 fig.)

Ouagadougou is the capital city of Burkina Faso, a State confined within West-Africa. The recent and spectacular extension of the city gives rise to an original form of space production and goes with the development of wide spontaneous settlement areas. The maps we present illustrate the different stages of the Sahelian capitaL’s growth and especially the modes of space production in the outskirts of the city.

Gérard CAMILLERI. Left and right wings in France through the 1974, 1981, 1988 and 1995 presidential elections. (5 fig., 1 tabl.)

The analysis of the last four presidential elections (1974, 1981, 1988 and 1995) reveals that the balance of power between both the left and the right wings is quite stable, while the traditional geographical setting ups tend to modify considerably.

Isabelle DEBEER, Isabelle THOMAS, Dominique VANNESTE. How to use proportional surface symbols. (2 fig.)

Proportional surface symbols is the only way to map absolute values for a given set of data. This elementary rule of cartography is here reminded with a simple operational example: the spatial distribution of the housings provided with solar energy heating in Belgium.

Cécile CHOMBARD-GAUDIN, Sylvannick RIBAULT. Twinnings in Calvados. (1 fig.)

Towns and villages in Calvados differ from others by their tendency to twinning, which is highly superior to that of other regions. In most of the cases it concerns British boroughs. This dramatic growth can be explained by geographical nearness and mainly by historical inheritances. The number of twinnings with Germany is 50% less important.

Jacqueline HERBILLON, Lilian POUYSÉGUR. Sensible and interpretative reading of a landscape: an analysis of an educational experiment. (1 fig., 1 tabl.)

The reading of a landscape, which allows a global and systemic approach of the subject matters, requires learning. An educational experiment carried out in the first class of a grammar school led us to develop a landscape reading process including first a training to a sensible and then interpretative sight. This comes, with help of a reading grid, to a general landscape model which reveals the relationships between society and space.

Bernard DEBARBIEUX, Charles HUSSY. Sillon Alpin: a territory in gestation or a technocratic invention? (5 fig.)

When political debate or publicity anticipate facts, it is instructive to analyse them in parallel with geostatistical data. This dual approach refutes the affirmation that urban development in the Sillon Alpin occurs along a functional axis.The linear diffusion of the built environment and, to a lesser extent, the location of employment show a multipolar order as well as a weakly reticulated one.

Book reviews Roger Brunet, Denis Eckert, Céline Rozenblat.

Stop press Jean-Paul Cheylan.

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Last modified: April 18, 1996