Contenu du sommaire

Since 1999, the French civil solidarity pact ( “pacs”) permits the union between two adults regardless of their sex. Supported by gays and lesbians to whom it gives a symbolic recognition and the beginning of equal rights matters of cohabitation, it has progressively been normalized, as its increased success has shown (over 200 000 signatures in the past 6 years). The analysis of the geography of the “pacs” shows that it has spread from national and regional capitals to the whole country. This process took place while still upholding remarkable spatial disparities at all scales, in particular the specific place of Paris and the south of France. This may be partly explained through a combination of social, cultural and demographic factors. There is a strong correlation between the concentration of the intellectual profession of the public sector and the civil solidarity pact rate. The geography of this social innovation is incomplete because of missing information (the sex of those who have signed a “pacs” is not recorded). This proves the complexity of the current social changes in France, characterized by the rise of a new metropolitan upper middle class.

In tropical forests, urbanization processes are usually not compatible with diversified forest agroecosystems. Far from the pioneer front, the development of small towns questions the sustainability of protected areas and indigenous agriculture. This work analyzes changes in agricultural practices linked with urbanization around São Gabriel da Cachoeira, situated in the north-western part of the Brazilian Amazon. The town has faced a steady growth of its population over the past 20 years, mostly due to migrations from the indigenous lands of the upper Rio Negro. Private land has become the main land use right in the periurban area. Despite that, around the city, primary forest remains predominant. Instead of turning to permanent crop cultivation, most indigenous families maintain swidden (slash and burn) agriculture, using the city as a source for economic diversification. Their circular mobility connects several production units and residences, thus coping with the rising scarcity of natural resources. As it was shown by geographers in Latin America, the fragmented inhabited spaces between town and country provide the necessary leeway to guarantee food security in a context of income variability. In remote areas of Amazonia, this multilocal land use system is an indicator of the resilience of the indigenous resource management systems. These territorial innovations suggest new paths for the sustainability of swidden agriculture within a context of urbanization.

Based on the event “Luxembourg and Greater Region, European Capital of Culture 2007”, this article deals with relations of transborder co-operation between cultural partners of various cities. The objective is to see whether, within the framework of an open strategy, aimed at widening the area of influence of its metropolitan area, Luxembourg will manage to reinforce its position as a cultural pole within the Greater Region. Based on transborder projects labelled 2007, graph theory allows us to highlight the privileged axes of co-operation as well as the centrality of the cities implied within the cultural networks. Thus, the cities which maintain the most intense relations of co-operation (Luxembourg-City and Saarbrucken) are also those positioned in the centre of the cultural event. Facing requirements of cultural attraction and influence, these metropolises build complex relations associating co-operation and competition.

Within a regional context characterized by the leadership of the South African ports, Maputo is attempting to recover its hinterlands. After a long period of decline caused by the war, the port is once more a preferential maritime exit for the neighbouring countries, thus restoring Mozambique's seaboard function. Everything shows that Maputo is on the way to becoming the big port it was in 1970, despite the slow rehabilitation process. In any case, the success of the reconstruction of Mozambique largely depends on the result of the rehabilitation of its transportation infrastructures. Ports and corridors will undeniably play a key role in the development of the country. Their rehabilitation depends on the inward investments and the support of South Africa which is thus finding a way to establish its authority within the region.

Recent US Census data show a new Hispanic wave overflowing from the South and Southwest states, characterized by a complex sprawling form operating at different scales (State, metropolitan, local). The purpose of this paper is to question the processes at work. The sprawl figure helps to understand new modes of housing, from a far different stance that the traditional Chicago and L. A. schools'analysis. It highlights both emergent forms of territoriality and diverse fragmented social relationships to space, which greatly depend on individual and collective migratory strategies, trans-national identities and new social practices of local space.

The article analyses a largely overlooked book by the French geographer Paul Vidal de la Blache (1845-1918) : La rivière Vincent Pinzon. Étude de la cartographie de la Guyane (The Vincent Pinzon river. Study of the cartography of Guyana). Published in 1902, this book contains an important part of the proof submitted in 1899 by France to the Swiss Federal Council which had to settle the dispute between France and Brazil with regard to their common border in Guyana. This part of the French's argumentation was written by Vidal de la Blache, who decided to publish it afterward. The book shows a tension between patriotic fervour and scientistic commitment. It also reveals a misconception of science and justice.