Abstract This article examines the relationship between administrative boundaries and other forms of regionalization through a comparison between Italy and Sweden. Drawing on theoretical contributions, desk research and preliminary fieldwork in Sweden, it highlights how administrative geography often diverges from lived geographies, shaped by sociocultural, historical, and relational processes. In Italy, the administrative model dominates both popular perception and institutional practice, sometimes producing mismatches with regions as perceived by inhabitants. In Sweden, by contrast, historical provinces and symbolic toponyms coexist with functional administrative units, reflecting a dual system of territorial reference. The comparison underscores the dynamic and constructed nature of regions and calls for governance models that better integrate functional needs with bottom-up territorial identities.
Abstract From the Public Square to the Gas Station. Gender, Social Milieu, and Spatial Practices: What Articulations in Public Space in Morocco? Where do women go out in Béni Mellal? This paper examines women’s practices in Béni Mellal (Morocco) by exploring their use of public spaces, focusing on two contrasting examples: a public square in the city center and a gas station transformed into a leisure complex in the suburbs. Socioeconomic differences among women are clearly reflected in their choice of spaces. The public square primarily attracts women from modest backgrounds, offering them a familiar and reassuring neighborhood environment, while the gas station draws women from more affluent backgrounds, providing a space aligned with their social status and lifestyle.
Abstract The article situates itself within the eco-Marxist analysis of the urban metabolism of waste, interpreting it as a material expression of the metabolic rift between society and nature under capitalism. Through the construction of the Urban Waste Management Imbalance Index (UWMII), which combines per capita residual waste and the distance from statutory recycling targets to quantify municipal-level imbalances in waste management, the study measures, at the municipal scale, territorial inequalities in the production and management of waste within the Metropolitan City of Naples. The results reveal a marked polarization between the urban core and its periphery, where marginal areas concentrate the environmental infrastructures of the urban metabolism.
Abstract Mobility and Health in Genoa: A Preliminary Analysis Based on the Impacts of Migratory Dynamics This work is part of a broader project aimed at analysing the health needs of the migrant population in Genoa. The present contribution explores the international migratory dynamics that have involved Genoa over time, with a particular focus on more recent forms of mobility. Building on this background, and through a multidisciplinary approach combining geography and medical studies, the paper seeks to understand the cultural interactions and health needs of migrant communities. In a historical period characterised by increasing global mobility, migrant status represents a social determinant of health and calls for a rethinking of public policies. The analysis offers some preliminary reflections based on data concerning the use of emergency departments by the migrant population, confirming the existence of barriers to access to healthcare services.
Abstract The Educational and Didactic Potential of Forests, Chestnut Groves, and Olive Groves in Territorial Education: A Project in the Savona Hinterland This paper presents some reflections from a research project in the field of geography teaching that involved the children of the fifth class at Borghetto Santo Spirito Primary School (Istituto Comprensivo Val Varatella). This experience stems from the need to make the children of our villages understand that the territory is a space organised and modified by human activities, with particular reference to the forest, chestnut grove and olive grove. An attempt has been made to analyse, in particular, the relationship that human beings have established with these spaces, which has proven to be constructive, moreover the destructive impact of certain human activities has not been overlooked.
Abstract The Great Crossing: From Senegalese Emigration to Brazilian Settlement. Political Geography of a Transatlantic Route and Socio-Economic Analysis of an Urban Integration This article, presented at the founding congress of the Association Internationale de Géographie Francophone in 2023, adopts a multi-sited and multi-scalar approach to analyze Senegalese migration trajectories to Brazil in the 2010s. It examines the political geography of these South-South routes, the transitions between stages, and the events that have reconfigured migration paths. The study also explores how Senegalese migrants integrate into Brazilian cities, transform urban spaces through new economic activities, and how settlement gradually evolves into a form of commercial and circular mobility.
Abstract Heritage and Development Issues in Small Rural Centres: Example of the Centre of Ighoud Small rural centers are the territories most neglected by the various multi-scalar development plans and strategies. They have remained, like many territories, completely invisible to conventional development instruments in Morocco. The Ighoud center constitutes an exception, in fact, following a triggering event, the discovery of the Man of Jbel Ighoud, a new form of public action was initiated, namely the agreement to upgrade the center and its site archaeological. How is the political dimension achieved for a small rural center? Is top-down public action sufficient to ensure genuine territorial development?
Abstract Public Transport and Urban Planning in Greater Rabat: In Search of a Balanced Management between Urbanization and Mobility Public transport worldwide faces major challenges such as congestion, delays, high costs, and safety concerns, further complicated by the need for sustainable and efficient mobility management. In Rabat, rapid demographic and economic growth exacerbates urban mobility issues, including traffic congestion, disparities between central and peripheral areas, and inadequate infrastructure in new residential zones. The lack of efficient public transport, especially outside peak hours, limits accessibility, increases costs, and heightens insecurity. Governance shortcomings – such as institutional fragmentation and weak reforms – hinder sustainable solutions. This article examines transport governance in Greater Rabat, analyzing reforms, public initiatives, and coordination mechanisms to identify pathways for a more effective and inclusive mobility system.
Abstract The Vhembe biosphere, a UNESCO-designated reserve in South Africa, faces severe biodiversity loss due to socio-economic and environmental drivers. This study analyses data from 1990 to 2018, including education, employment (Statistics South Africa), and bioclimatic data (WorldClim), with terrain data from SRTM. Using multivariate logistic regression and AIC in R-Studio, the best model (AIC = 28) showed strong predictive power. Results reveal that no schooling and rising tmax-12 and tavg-12 significantly increase biodiversity loss (p < 2e-16), while higher employment and precipitation improve biodiversity outcomes. Four frameworks – Socio-Ecological Systems, Human Capital Theory, Climate-Biodiversity Theory, and the Environmental Kuznets Curve guide interpretation – underscoring the need for better education, jobs, and climate policies.
Abstract Challenges and Threats to the Patrimonialization of Gabon’s Maritime Space: The Case of Marine Protected Areas This article looks at the protection of Gabon’s marine ecosystem through the creation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Despite their uniqueness, MPAs are currently facing a lack of full support from local communities, who are critical of policies that are essentially focused on conservation. The article highlights the challenges and threats posed by the development of maritime heritage, given the government’s stated ambition to secure the sites identified for protection. The development of this work required a methodological approach based on the consultation of available documentary resources and the collection of field data from observations and exchanges with twenty-five stakeholders. The initial results show that the creation of MPAs reflects a clear political will to secure and appropriate the maritime domain. However, the heritage approach, which since then has been limited to conservation aspects, must now go beyond this framework and extend to the construction of a cultural identity based on attachment to marine heritage.
Abstract Heritage and the Metropolis: Management Issues in Montpellier (France) The relationship between heritage and urban planning is examined in relation to the debate on metropolisation and how to overcome it. The process of heritage enhancement is conceived as a juxtaposition of heritage periods – ‘antépatrimoine’, ‘néo-patrimoine’ et ‘pro-patrimoine’ – which raise different questions about urban planning depending on the nature of the mobilisation of the heritage object, the associated methods and, finally, the capacity that is claimed for it to serve objectives other than its own. Examination of the situation in Montpellier (France) leads to a new question, which the methods identified suggest: metropolising heritage or patrimonialising the metropolis?
Abstract What about Water Markets in Senegal’s Ferlo Region? The Case of the Communes of Barkedji and Dodji Numerous reforms, in a context of incomplete decentralisation, have succeeded in introducing the rule of selling water to users. From colonial times to the present day, efforts have been made in the rural water sub-sector in the Ferlo. This paper explores a new aspect of access to services in rural areas, namely the disparity between water markets for different boreholes. We hypothesise that user pricing of water is more reasonable than a single imposed tariff. The article is based on several research studies carried out in Senegal and abroad, and on the results of surveys conducted in 2023 in two communes, Barkédji and Dodji. In short, this article provides a spatial analysis of water trading infrastructures, uses and the interplay of players in the water market.
Abstract Financialization and Urban Markets through the Lens of Low Geopolitics: Reflections on the Case of Milan The financialization of real estate has reshaped global financial geographies, clustering investments in major cities following low geopolitics strategies. This study explores the nexus between financialization and hegemony from the angle of the Milanese real estate dynamics, where sovereign and institutional funds have driven capital flows into its market, amplifying global players’ influence and highlighting the city’s dependence on global investments. Using a qualitative approach, it examines such investment trends, literature, and local-global-actor interactions. The findings show how financialization shapes low geopolitics and city diplomacy practices affecting real estate markets and call for further research on the geopolitical role of the State within such a complex phenomenon.
Abstract Asinara and the Denied Territorialisation: Or Rather, How an Improper Use of Language Can Erase Memory In the language of journalism, and in non-specialist publications in general, places are often described using stereotypical terms that have little to do with the context. This is the case of Asinara, an island with a painful anthropic past (penal colony, lazaret, concentration camp, maximum security prison), now a protected area, often presented in tourist branding with the double stereotype of paradise island and pristine environment. The paper seeks to reframe Asinara by examining the practices of structuring, reification, and denomination through the analysis of archival material, visual material and field research.
Abstract Study of the Reciprocity of Urban and Rural Areas through Agriculture in the Estuaire Province of Gabon Agriculture, currently undergoing transformation and revealing signs of a territorial crisis, increasingly connects urban and rural areas in Gabon. In the Estuaire province, which accounts for 19% of the country’s agricultural population, there is a higher proportion of urban dwellers engaged in farming than rural residents. This paradoxical situation was analyzed using various sources and a questionnaire administered to 117 inhabitants of Greater Libreville. The results reveal an interdependence between these areas, with 96.5% of respondents owning at least one field, often located along major transportation routes. However, this interdependence remains unbalanced due to the absence of territorial reciprocity agreements, which could help ensure more harmonious spatial planning based on a win-win approach.
Abstract Digital Geography: An Online Visual Atlas to Disseminate Environmental Discourse The contribution, in accordance with the initiatives of the CAPTED Centre 1, analyses the intersections between geography and digital transition, highlighting how emerging technologies influence the perception and organisation of space. In a context of increasing digitisation, the importance of a critical approach in the use of educational technologies is emphasised. Through the analysis of Greenatlas, a digital visual atlas, its educational-didactic potential to promote an active understanding of geography is explored, stimulating interaction with georeferenced content and encouraging critical reflection on environmental narratives. In conclusion, the need for a balance between digital and traditional resources is discussed, which is essential for meeting the challenges of the digital transition and for effective and inclusive education.
Abstract The present contribution, starting from theoretical reflections on the role of ecomuseums in the valorisation of territorial resources and the idea of landscape dynamics as connectors that link communities to places also through sensorial experience, presents the case study of the Grotte Vaporose of Sciacca, in South-Western Sicily. Through an approach based on the so-called walking methods, this work aims at returning the perceptual, critical and analytical outcomes of a flânerie in an ecomuseum.
Abstract From Piazza d’Armi to CityLife: An Evolving Space in Milan One of the most significant and recent examples of the process of reappropriation of abandoned or underused spaces in the city of Milan is the case of the recovery of the former Fiera di Milano area, now called CityLife, which began in 2007 and is now nearing completion. The project was characterized by a complete urban and structural rethinking of the area with the inclusion of tall buildings, retails and new housing units. The CityLife project, however, is only the latest in a long series of transformations, uses and redesigns that this area has undergone over the last 140 years (1884-2024). The research focuses on the analysis of the evolutionary phases of the ex Fair quadrilateral, focusing on the structural and functional changes and the ways in which this space can be used over time.
