Contenu du sommaire

Networks of communities of practice in the dynamics of territorial governance of horticulture: the case of AnjouThis article enlightens the role of communities of practice in the dynamics of territorial governance. It proposes a renewed understanding in terms of embeddeness – decoupling processes. Our analysis of micro-social relations in the angevine ornamental horticulture cluster underlines that territorial governance used to be conditioned by a network of communities of practice historically constituted during the XVth century. This dynamics is currently questioned in a context of deep mutations modifying the modalities of appropriation of the horticultural rent. A detailed study of embeddness – decoupling processes shows that territorial governance has become intercommunitarian, as it has been based on different communities stemming from friendship, family, professional and political networks. Those influential networks of communities of practice, based on different logics of capture of the rent, give rise to singular territorial governance and local development trajectories.

The Paris CBD facing jobs sprawls: an analysis through the location of economic activities (1993-2008)During the last decades, the economic reshaping of major French cities has put forward the issue of the attractiveness and power of central business districts. In Paris, recent works suggest that the decline of employment in the city centre is leading to the slackening of the Parisian centrality attributes, causing a relatively widespread urban sprawl. This article is a contribution to the current debate. Based on an original spatial slicing of Île-de-France municipalities, on the definition of control economic sectors and on growth, weight and specialization / differentiation indicators, several hypotheses are tested. First, is the economic centrality of the Paris central business district really declining? Second, is it on the contrary enlarging by the dissemination of control activities within the nearby municipalities? Finally, are the economic profiles of pericentral municipalities and central neighbourhoods being increasingly similar? Our results moderate the generally pessimistic reading of the evolution of central business districts and emphasize the current maintaining of centripetal forces in the economic geography of Paris Region.

Socio-economic context and tax/financial situation of urban inter-municipalities: a typology. An approach of various territorial issuesThe study focuses on socio-economic context and tax/financial situation of urban inter-municipalities. The hypothesis according to which there is a linear relation between the two situations cannot be validated. Political decisions about financial intervention of inter-municipalities play a role: fiscal wealth is not entirely determined by economic dynamism. The analysis finally shows a typology based on socio-economic indicators which are affected by regional factors. At the same time, the typology based on financial indicators is not so strong; there are many ways to assess fiscal and financial wealth for local governments. When the two classifications are simultaneously considered, a series of questions then arises. They relate to how national policies take into account issues related to local governments' configurations.

From resource to trajectory: which strategy for local development?
In continuation of previous work, this article focuses on the notion of “territorial resource”, and more specifically on the role of the operator of resources. In this context, we propose to study territorial dynamics with a matrix of the trajectories of construction and valorization of resources. Then, this matrix is used to show an original reading grid of the operator. This qualitative method leads to an identification of the operator and to an analysis of its building mechanisms. The operator is finally defined as the interface internal/external to the territory that involves the process of construction and valorization of resources and results in various possible trajectories.

Employment Patterns at the heart of an industrial new deal
Chemical activities are confronted with the necessity of their transformation to match the new social and environmental requirements. This paper aims to show that Employment patterns are key elements of such a transformation, by their material characteristics as well by their institutional ones. But also, that they are particularly concern by the way sector-based and territorial dynamics of those activities are joined together.