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Undoing the gay neighborhood. Appropriation and distancing from an imported urban model. Traditionally, metropolitan areas are thought to allow the institutionalization of homosexual identity. Indeed, the development of the modern homosexual archetype is possible in an urban setting, where the population density, and its anonymity, contribute to consolidate what we currently understand as a gay identity. However, is this model that relates the construction of identity and urban space applicable in every metropolis? Considering Santiago's case, we will show how in that city there is no exclusive nor preferential territory that may be associated to the gay identity. In this sense –differing from other western metropolitan areas that have visible gay neighborhoods within its limits- in Santiago there is spread of “discreet” places, used in different ways according to the social class observed. This fluidity of spaces, which is often larger for wealthier groups, is related to the value of discretion, which is a structuring element of local social practices. Therefore, there is no single and homogenous neighborhood but scattered spaces created by a differentiated class imaginary.

Marginalization and informal settlement: from one domination to another. Cherarba in the South-East periphery of Algiers In the cities of the Maghreb, informal settlements are proving to be a privileged observatory of the relations between institutional policies and social dynamics. The focus here is put on the subtle links between the processes of marginalization and informalization and forms of domination of the populations concerned. The segregation and injustice that characterize the legalization policy undertaken by the State in the late 1980s had disgruntled the aspirations of empowerment and affirmation of the urbanity of the inhabitants of Cherarba. The government lost its legitimacy among residents and the neighborhood then passed into the hands of radical Islamist opposition who had to turn to informal channels to finance its activities. People's expectations and hopes of change this time encountered aggressive Islamist authoritarianism and the situation passed from a symbolic kind of violence to deadly violence that was probably the cause of the change in position of a large part of the population: a change in position and disaffection which she paid for by a massacre. The suppression of terrorism and the “pacification” that followed were accompanied by a desire of the government to reconquer the territory, through the revival of housing programs and development of several amenities. Residents of the area want only one thing: turn the page of the Civil War and delete the terrorist image of Cherarba. The government's relations with the populations of informal settlements are forged with a form of government whose purpose is primarily political, which even more strongly raises the democratic question, especially in the current context of Arab countries.

Urban regeneration and industrial heritage reconversion process: Techn'hom in Belfort (Franche-Comté) This article aims to study the process of heritage recognition in an industrial reconversion area in Belfort (east of France) in which some executors are constrained by territorial, political, economic, social and cultural requirements. Devised with a view to restructuring at city-wide scale, Techn'hom draws its originality from its spatial extent and its economic vocation. In this territory, the industrial potential has been based on the energy and transportation hubs since the end of the 19th Century, and more recently on research. Techn'hom is especially original as we observe more frequent cultural rehabilitation accompanying huge industrial heritage programs. This type of approach is therefore quite new. Territory, the process of heritage recognition, economy, different executors and architectural creativity raise questions on the concepts of both memory and forgetting. This contribution also studies the evolution of the heritage concept, its readability and its connection to humans and their surroundings, to history and to society in a future perspective. This urban operation -Techn'hom- shows its resilience and the close link between territory and its heritage as potential for innovative developments: social, political, cultural and economic.

On the patrimonialisation of the environment and of its economic values: two shared perspectives Identified since the 19th Century, the concept of heritage is constantly expanding. Everything is now likely to become patrimonial, even the environment. However, at the same time, this heritage is now integrated into the sphere of commercial exchange whereas it was initially recognized for its symbolic qualities. This new register of justification has been studied in the case of territorial development. However, to the best of our knowledge, little work has concerned the social and political implications of the economic valuation of the natural heritage. This paper proposes the shared perspectives of a geographer and an economist. Based on a literature review and various case studies, it aims at discussing the social uses of economic valuation. It also questions how this tool takes part in the creation of the economic values of the natural heritage. We analyse how the monetary valuation, although highly criticized, gradually became a normative framework for designing public policies and an additional resource of authority in patrimonial expansion. But the transformation in public decision making encourages taking a better look at the way this tool is now mobilized in order to enforce, negotiate or co-build new values.

Regional question, national identity and the emergence of urban industrial world. The modernity in Paul Vidal's work The aim of this paper is to interpret Paul Vidal de la Blache's thought (1845-1918), emphasizing its pertinence for present debates. We examine how his regional geography was built in the light of French national identity and the emergence of the urban industrial world. This world changed the landscapes and the life of society in a peasant country like France, and Vidal de la Blache understood the temporal and spatial consequences of this movement. Moving beyond a disciplinary approach, an analysis of Vidal de la Blache's intellectual legacy leads us to believe that he was an insightful observer of modernity.