Contenu du sommaire : Géographie des solidarités

In order to answer the question "when solidarities make territory", this paper proposes a double confrontation, one intergenerational and the other of two territories. The first, the Méjan from the 1980s to the 2000s, where ‘solidarism' associated with the construction of an identity through the territory has not succeeded in building a solidary and sustainable environment; the second, which the Manche studied within the framework of the European project RURALIZATION, where we are trying to bring to light the new levers or pillars on which sustainable rural environments are built. Through this confrontation, we have tried to link the differences in the relationships between solidarity and territory to the types of crises that characterise the two analysed periods. We first analysed the research issues, conceptualisations and disciplines' organisation (in particular interdisciplinarity between sociology and geography), asking to what extent they influenced the two case studies. Then, we have brought to light concrete differences between the ‘local identities' and solidarities of the Causse Méjan and the Manche region, proposing reflexive analyses to explain these differences in order to provide methodological and epistemological results to the geography of local social links.

In the nineteenth century, together with industrialisation, a major change occurs: paid labour becomes a social act different from private daily household activity and it now takes place in dedicated collective spaces. It then spreads, becoming the nerve centre and the determining element of the social and spatial order. Factories, office buildings, working class then suburban housing estates, transport infrastructures shape the space that organises working lives. The Welfare state also unfolds, closely linked to paid labour that becomes the focal point of twentieth century solidarities, whether institutional, informal or political. But since the 1980's global crisis, through the diversity of labour modes, we have witnessed a dual phenomenon: dissociation and despatialization of a labour that has become increasingly unsecure and dematerialised. During the recent health crisis, the development of independent work via collaborative platforms but also, indirectly enough, the boom in teleworking have illustrated this phenomenon in their own way. This move implying the dematerialisation of work, the disappearance of both its spaces and potentially its acquired wage rights thus more generally question current and future forms of social solidarity.

As we enter the Anthropocene, the relationship of societies to themselves cannot be understood without including their relationship to nature. We need to rethink our societies and social change in terms of the relationship of human communities with other-than-human (OTH). To this end, we propose that a geography of relationality with OTH should emerge, and how this geography can serve projects of urban territorial solidarity. This relationality is constructed in three spatial dimensions, that of exposure and precarity, that of infrastructures and coexistence and finally that of assemblies and assemblages, the latter covering the field of governance. The urban environment thus acquires a heuristic value from this point of view. For working on relational quality objectives in the city implies raising the hope of changing mentalities by reinjecting meaning into the community, providing a framework and making a pluralist value judgement. We are beings in our own right, whether we are humans, animals or plants, first of all because we are in relationship.

This text is based on two case studies: the merger of 9 Neighborhood (or community) centers associations approved as Social (or community) Centers into a single associative organization in La Roche-sur-Yon (AMAQY in Vendée, France) and the place and possible role played by associative Social Centers that were initially inter-communal but became communal within the framework of the communal mergers in the Mauges (in Maine-et-Loire, France). In these two situations, solidarity is presupposed. It would be the origin of all the mergers, based on a register of justification: the merger would "go without saying" because of a previous habit of "doing things together", between people used to "living together". However, the merger induces a change in values, a reallocation of these values, resistance, new alliances... which call into question solidarity, systematically invoked as a founding principle!

Although literature has already demonstrated socio-economic inequalities in face of climate change, there is still a knowledge gap in social sciences about the socio-spatial effects of climate change adaptation policies. In this context, this article questions flood risk management policies in France and investigates their procedural and distributive effects. Using the theoretical framework of environmental justice, we examine the mechanisms implemented since the early 2000s in the redevelopment project of the flood-prone area of La Bouillie in Blois. Marked by a heavy de-urbanization operation and now a reinvestment of local authorities, this project is accompanied by participatory mechanisms that aim at defining new shared uses and reversible functions, based on a dense associative network and forms of "reflexive solidarity" around sustainability and inclusion. However, some uses or functions of the site barely taken into account (such as the presence of travelers) and are seen as "not compatible" with the future of the site. In this paper, we show that the solidarity mechanisms publicized in the redevelopment policy may also induce a selective legitimization of certain uses of the area and lead to the establishment of exclusionary regimes.

Sometimes understood as a community psycho-socio-anthropological process born of the discrepancy between societal needs and management of these by the institution (in the broad sense), the third place is experiencing a lively societal topicality on the fringes of the dominant system and at the light of the contributions of digital culture. It experiments and disseminates, on a territorial scale and in various formal guises, the utopia of the culture of the commons, thus becoming one of the privileged levers of a model of solidarity, citizen, endogenous and empirical development of the territories. To this extent, it proves to be a key to reading and a catalyst for new uses and representations of rural and urban territories.

This article aims to analyse the international solidarity relations undertaken by French cities. These international cooperations are multiple, and the actions of solidarity, called decentralized cooperation, are characterized by their spatial scope and their practices. The aim is to examine the concept of solidarity and in particular the evolution of its conception within these relations. The purpose of this paper is to study the geography of solidarity in French cities by means of a census of the cooperative projects carried out by the 80 largest French cities, followed by a semi-directive interview survey. Three results have emerged. First, the solidarity relations conducted by French cities are similar to development assistance in very specific areas related to the French legal corpus and lead to a strong asymmetry in the relationship. Secondly, the geographical distribution of these relations is based on the influence areas of French diplomacy, as a result of numerous incentives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Finally, the study of these cooperations shows how the notion of solidarity evolves through the growing imperative of reciprocity in the exchange.

Canada has adopted the Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) which requires that gender equality be integrated as a cross-cutting focus of all international development projects. To meet the requirements of Global Affairs Canada (GAC), international cooperation organizations must adopt approaches consistent with the FIAP principles of empowering women and girls. For example, to gather the views of recipients of Canadian-funded projects in six villages in Senegal's Saloum Islands, a survey of women's priorities, coupled with a survey of men's perspectives on women's empowerment projects, was carried out. Survey results revealed that Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG5), equality between women and men, is not a priority for women who have benefited from several climate change adaptation (CC) projects. According to men, roles are complementary and not egalitarian.

The CENTRAIDER network, which federates 900 actors of international solidarity in the Centre Val de Loire region, is 20 years old. This is a long enough time to reflect on the evolution of its missions and on the drivers that have guided its development. A nascent and fragile structure yesterday, Centraider is an organization recognized in the region, inserted in the national network of 12 regional multi-actor networks with a collective governance, the CIRRMA (Interregional Conference of Regional Multi-Actor Networks), and associated with many national institutions. These 20 years reflect the interactions between the strategies and values of the management team, the political history of the Region, that of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, and those of the 900 partners federated by Centraider. Three periods are thus distinguished: the birth of Centraider (1995-2002), the structuring of the network (2002-2014) and its opening towards the national level (2014-2020). In terms of the development of territories, whether they belong to developing countries or to the Centre Val de Loire region, three tensions have marked the life of the network. Humanitarian aid has gradually faded away, without disappearing, in favor of development aid marked by a strong partnership with local companies. The professionalization of the employees and the increasing integration of Centraider into the national networks of international solidarity have modified the links with the 900 partners in the region, particularly with the smallest associations. Finally, the role of Centraider's partners in the local development of the Centre Val de Loire region has long been overlooked. However, the tens of thousands of volunteers working for NGOs involved in international solidarity make a significant contribution to local development and social cohesion.