Geography and territorial sciences

This is a vast research field of a particularly multidisciplinary nature. Research in this field is not confined to a single discipline as it is a way of studying social phenomena through the manner in which they came into existence, are arranged, anchored or expressed in space. Obviously geography is the core of this research insofar as it involves the study of the relationship between human societies and their space(s). However more broadly speaking, all the humanities and social sciences can be involved as long as territory or space play an essential role in the issues being studied. Indeed historians, sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists, architects and town planners often collaborate with geographers in CNRS Humanities & Social Sciences units.

This variety in terms of disciplines obviously serves as a vector for numerous interdisciplinary projects. It also logically leads to the development of a wide variety of methods, from the most qualitative ethnographies and monographs to artificial intelligence algorithms, geographic information science, interviews and observational work, statistical processing, archive analysis and remote sensing.

These methods enable researchers to work on the organisation, ways of functioning and evolution of territories themselves combined with the study of the spatial forms and arrangements of the social phenomena and processes that take place in those territories. This research focuses on landscapes, natural heritage and resources combined with the study of the spatial distribution of populations, how they circulate within a given space and how they produce, consume and trade. It also focuses on the very forms of inhabited spaces, their modes of design, production and management while also studying the power relationships, inequalities, conflicts, mobilisations and sources of vulnerability inherent to a territory. All this research is carried out over long time frames and on a variety of scales which means researchers can focus both on the phenomena of globalisation and metropolitanization and on local dynamics and proximity. A territory is a strong marker of risks and crises which are very much in evidence as are environmental issues and climate change. Obviously, the latter logically takes centre stage in today's world.

Highly localised surveys create proximity between the researchers and their subjects and frequently lead to the introduction of participative research methods. Such methods are marked by the co-production of analytical frameworks combined with forms of feedback that can thus be original and creative in their format including, for example, plays, video capsules, tourist guides and so forth.

Research centers and networks