Territorial Configurations Research Articles

Dispossessed lands and land-use change in the Colombian armed conflict: Exploring a link through a regional case study

Land dispossession in the Colombian armed conflict is a critical form of victimization and a trigger of territorial configurations that shape the rurality of the country. The consequences of the illegal appropriation of land by means of usurpation or forced displacement result in a humanitarian drama and various socio-spatial and socio-economic transformations. This research analyzes the intricate dynamics of land use and cover changes in four municipalities within the Cesar department and its relationship with instances of land abandonment and dispossession over a 29-year period (1991–2020). Landsat satellite image time series of TM, ETM+ and OLI data were used to determine land use and land cover (LULC). The classification process was carried out using the Random Forest model. The dynamics of land dispossession and forced abandonment were identified by analyzing 195 land restitution court rulings. Geo-referenced properties were subsequently overlaid on the created LULC maps. As a result, a pattern indicating a direct relationship between both variables was found. Consequently, the phenomenon of land dispossession in the context of this internal armed conflict has contributed to the transition from the traditional agrarian model to the agro-industrial one.

Territorial Configurations of School‐To‐Work Outcomes in Europe

<p>Comparative research on school-to-work transitions mainly focused on country differences, examining the variation in institutional design and its impact on shaping youth labour market outcomes. The field has been dominated by a sort of methodological nationalism assuming nation states as homogeneous objects of comparison, while the territorial variations in youth transitions among sub-national territories have been less explored, notwithstanding their potential impact on life chances. In this article, we look at the outcomes of transitions in EU regions, comparing regional configurations of school-to-work transitions and their change over time. Is it possible to identify differences among groups of regions? To what extent do these patterns change over time? In order to answer these questions, we construct and analyse a longitudinal and systematic set of indicators that combine regional aggregated outcomes of transitions from education to work and regional contextual traits at the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics level 2 for the period 2007–2019. We perform two cluster analyses to describe regional differences and trends over time. The findings provide novel insights into the characteristics and patterns of an unequal geography of youth opportunities in Europe.</p>

Correlations between climate resilience in family farming and sustainable rural development.

Given the recognition that climate change predominantly affects the most vulnerable groups, there has been a growing interest in reorientations that can influence family farming's resilience. However, there is still a lack of research relating this subject to sustainable rural development perspectives. We reviewed 23 studies published between 2000 and 2021. These studies were systematically selected according to the pre-established criteria. Even though there is evidence that using adaptation strategies can effectively strengthen climate resilience in rural communities, many limiting factors remain. The convergences for sustainable rural development may include actions with a long-term horizon. These actions include an improvement package for territorial configurations within a local, inclusive, equitable, and participatory perspective. Furthermore, we discuss possible arguments for the results and future directions to explore opportunities in family farming.

Digital infrastructure strategies: the case of the province of Caserta

<abstract> <p>The digital economy and the associated productivity gains generated by the diffusion of the Internet are considered fundamental components of growth models. Scientific reflection converges in considering balanced access to digital services as a diriment factor for the promotion of competitiveness, equity, economic development and social and environmental sustainability. Although the availability of infrastructure is not sufficient to achieve the full development of the territory and the community, it is nevertheless an unavoidable prerequisite for today's and future technological and digital applications and, therefore, investigating the type of association between the presence of communication networks and the socio-economic structure of the territories is essential to understanding the very nature of multidimensional inequalities and their spatial and geographical distribution, within a framework that sees infrastructure as a conversion factor and means of development for capabilities. Based on the theories of social exclusion, the capability approach and critical theory, the research presented aims to investigate, through the analysis of a case study, the possible association between the state of progress of broadband implementation and specific territorial configurations, considering also different variables of a geographical nature.</p> </abstract>

Sharing services, strategy and territories: reflections of operations in Brazil, Portugal and Europe

The objective of this text is to analyze territorial development factors, promoted by the agglomeration strategy of shared service centers, which contribute to the regional and urban economy through the spillover effect, observing interrelated corporate components of governance, strategy and location, as well as externalities on non-participants, namely at an economic, social and environmental level. Studies were carried out in different sectors of the Northeast and Center-South geo-economic regions of Brazil, with emphasis on the beverage, pharmacy, transportation and financial services segments; and in the cities of Lisbon, and Porto, in Portugal-Europe in their respective metropolitan areas, namely in the segments of technology, telecommunications, transport, automobiles and health. To this end, a literature review was carried out, relating elements of human capital, innovation and knowledge with the phenomenon of sharing services and areas of research support; and accessed executive documents dealing with the planning and implementation of call centers. The methodology focused on the content analysis of semi-structured interviews with one hundred and fifty professionals from companies and governments in the regions, which provided a better understanding of the phenomenon, its activities and repercussions. The relevance of territorial configurations was perceived as a strategic and economic development component, promoted by the agglomeration of people, processes and technology in sharing services, potentiated by the agglomeration of these equipments, which operate in different ecosystems, but obtain a competitive advantage and increase in supply chains. value through the network economy. The research contributed to broadening the understanding of the relationship between territory and companies' strategies, with emphasis on development factors.

The Political Ontology of Corporate Social Responsibility: Obscuring the Pluriverse in Place

This article examines corporate social responsibility (CSR) through the lens of political ontology. We contend that CSR is not only a discursive mean of legitimization but an inherently ontological practice through which particular worlds become real. CSR enables the politics of place-making, connecting humans and nonhumans in specific territorial configurations in accordance with corporate needs and interests. We discuss three CSR mechanisms of singularization that create a particular corporate ontology in place: (1) community engagements that form ‘stakeholders’; (2) CSR standards and certifications that produce singular sustainable environments; and (3) CSR reporting that erases ontological conflicts and enables the singularized representation (of the environment and the community) to travel to other locations of the corporate world. We argue that these ontological CSR practices obscure the pluriverse of other world and place-making practices that would create different kinds of sustainabilities based on less extractive and non-corporate ways of being in place.

White spatial politics in mainstream agroecology activism in Argentina

ABSTRACT This paper addresses whiteness in environmental imaginaries underpinning mainstream agroecology activism in Argentina. It examines the cultural politics of race and nature articulated by intellectual leaders during the period of nation-making, and by contemporary agroecology advocates who are preoccupied to define appropriate human-land relations. Empirically, it mostly focuses on an activist organization that has been reimagining alternatives to the dominant agro-export economy in an agricultural hub in central Argentina. Paradoxically, new territorial configurations to regulate pesticide drift from herbicide resistant (HR) soy fields leave fresh vegetable producers outside environmental protection zones. I argue that by neglecting the exposure to toxicity of farmworkers who fall outside dominant ethno-racial identifications, mainstream agroecology advocates endorse a double standard in food production. The article suggests that there is a need for deeper attention to the ways in which the practices of racialization work in and through ideas of ‘proper environmental relations’ in progressive agendas for socio-environmental change.

Capital accumulation, territoriality, and the reproduction of state sovereignty in China: Is this “new” state capitalism?

The portrayals of “new state capitalism” in both the popular media and policy-making circles have become a potent geopolitical category. This politically realist categorization is understandably popular because of its simplicity—states proactively participating in capital accumulation are construed as threats to institutions underpinning the “free market”. This paper complicates this portrayal by framing what appears to be a “rise” of state capitalistic maneuvers from China as a dynamic sovereignty–accumulation nexus. Specifically, Chinese state capitalism—and arguably state capitalism in general—constitutes the reproduction of sovereign rule. Underpinning this tension-filled process is territoriality: the use of territory for political, economic, and social ends. This dynamic relationship will be illustrated through an examination of how and why Yunnan, a southwestern Chinese province that was economically marginalized for several decades, emerged as a geostrategic platform for facilitating new rounds of capital accumulation. Through large-scale infrastructural investments in Yunnan, the Chinese state generated new territorial configurations that (a) enabled the positioning of Yunnan as a “bridgehead” of Chinese economic statecraft and (b) encouraged investments aimed at capturing new growth opportunities. While this state-led developmental process partially resolves tensions generated by previous rounds of capital accumulation, it also generates new tensions. Building on this case study, the paper demonstrates how Chinese state capitalism more accurately exemplifies a state-building process that is embedded in and is constituted by a central contradiction between the territorial and capitalistic logics of power. It concludes by presenting two directions for future research on Chinese state capitalism.

Environmental conflicts and management of marine resources in the Cassurubá Complex, Bahia, Brazil

The Cassurubá Complex, located in the Abrolhos Bank, has the highest concentration of marine biodiversity in Brazil. This region also concentrates on many uses of natural resources, such as shipping of eucalyptus, tourism, and artisanal fishing. In this scenario of diverse territorial configurations, this study seeks to analyze the environmental conflicts that influence the territoriality of artisanal fishermen in the Cassurubá Complex. Based on participant observation (2017–2020), semi-structured interviews (2019), participatory mapping (2019), and focus groups (2019) were developed with 37 artisanal fishermen. The main conflicts highlighted were those between types of fishing equipment (trawling and gillnets, lobster nets and longline) and between the local population and development projects, including conflicts with the pulp sector and the disruption caused by the collapse of the Fundão dam. These conflicts were systematized and analyzed based on category, actors, scope, and arenas of dispute. The loss of fishing territory was noted in the interviews and the main form of resistance on the part of the local population in the face of disputes over resource use and complaints of environmental degradation happens through social movements. Finally, it is necessary that the analysis of environmental conflicts be taken into account when making decisions on local spatial planning.

‘The process of complex societies: dynamic models beyond site-size hierarchies’

ABSTRACT The site-size hierarchy concept enables researchers to transform archaeological survey data into political classifications. Yet everything about the site-size rubric is worth re-thinking, from the reliability of surface-survey data to the recognition that sites of all sizes act autonomously within territorial configurations. New ways can visualize and analyze the process whereby complex societies (chiefdoms and states) emerge through the materialized energies of constituent parts (cities, towns, resource zones, fortifications, frontiers) that ebb and flow through connections of trade, warfare, alliances, and migration characterized by multiple and overlapping dynamisms among human and non-human elements, and in which historical trajectories form the basis of memory and action. Five alternative ways of mapping and analyzing relationships among sites are offered, derived from biological models of individual and collective interaction: reticulated hierarchies, logic gates, cellular automata, recurrent connectivity, and firefly synchronicity.

THE RECONFIGURATIONS OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE-TERRITORIAL ORGANIZATION OF ROMANIA AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE EVOLUTION OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY AFTER 1989

The main objective of this study is to analyze the evolution of Romania’s administrative-territorial organization and study the impact of each stage on the regional development process after 1989 in order to identify national features that could contribute to the improvement of Romania’s current regionalization process.Starting from the premise that any proposal for Romanian regionalization must be based on a rigorous research of the historical context in which the territorial administrative reconfigurations took place, the present study aims to present a synthetic analysis of different territorial configurations proposed by various regimes as well as the political and social circumstances in which they were implemented.

Do narcotráfico às narcomilícias: configurações territoriais sobrepostas na periferia de Belém

Os conflitos territoriais urbanos em Belém vêm, nos últimos anos, reproduzindo uma conjuntura político-territorial, em que a metrópole se encontra sob os efeitos perversos das ações de grupos armados que impõem a lógica da violência urbana. O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar as configurações territoriais sobrepostas que envolvem grupos do narcotráfico e milicianos na periferia de Belém, pois elas refletem a existência de outros poderes não exclusivos do Estado. A metodologia fundamentou-se na revisão da literatura, análise de documentos e pesquisas de campo com observações sistemáticas e entrevistas. O narcotráfico e as milícias fundamentam um cálculo racional que influencia nas ações e no pensamento dos sujeitos que compõem os territórios.

A model to explore which diversity is needed to design sustainable agricultural systems at the territorial level

Faced with changes related to climatic hazards or market variability, farmers deploy a variety of strategies to stabilize farm economic performances and reduce risk. One of the challenges faced by agricultural systems is how to reduce their sensitivity to these disturbances and maintain a certain level of production of goods and services. If diversity in crop and livestock activities in a farm has been shown to answer this challenge, at a higher scale, the growth of diversity and its benefits remain unclear. Using biotechnical models of existing farms within the territory of the Vallees de Duyes in the South of France, we propose to simulate various territorial configurations based on the assumption of diversity at farm and territorial scales and assess their expected sustainable properties. Based on the actual configuration of the referenced territory and composed of a set of specialized and mixed farms, two contrasted configurations are tested: from one side, a territory composed of specialized farms and, from the other side, a territory composed of mixed farms. The intrinsic diversity of individual farms impacts their performance and reveals that the resistance to economic shock varies according to the dependence on inputs and the use of rangelands. If mixed farms exhibit high values of diversity indicators for both land use and product provision, they also present high values for the majority of sustainable properties. At a higher scale, the specialized configuration shows the highest resistance to economic shock, but economic performances are lower than the referenced and specialized configurations. Here, we explore for the first time how several types of diversity indicators, both built within and between farms, could affect a set of sustainable properties of farms and territories. These new insights lead to a better understanding of how to balance performance at several scales and design sustainable Mediterranean farming systems.

Crafting futures together: scenarios for water infrastructure asset management in a context of global change

AbstractDrinking water supply networks play an essential role in protecting the human and economic wellbeing of the territories they serve. To ensure continued quality of service, organisations involved in water infrastructure asset management (WIAM) need to deal with a number of issues related to global change. This paper presents the results of an original interdisciplinary foresight approach carried out by a group of engineering and social scientists, in partnership with a number of stakeholders. The purpose was to examine various possible pathways for the future of a French territory. The full title of our foresight study is: ‘Supplying water destined for human consumption in Nouvelle-Aquitaine (France) up until 2070’. Four scenarios, as contrasted as possible, were designed based on five components: organisation and operation of the water supply service, social demands in terms of drinking water, the governance context, territorial dynamics, and the overall context. We then ran further simulations to visualise what a given infrastructure network would look like under each set of assumptions, and under different territorial configurations. One significant advantage of our foresight approach is the educational value it has for stakeholders and water managers. Foresight makes the future potentially visible and provides an opportunity to discuss it, in order to able to inform decision-making.

O conto da Floresta-Corredor: um "jogo de cordas" de Estado

Refletir territórios, identidades, políticas e suas legitimidades no âmbito do Estado, é entender essas dimensões como ficcionais, ao mesmo tempo que materialistas, e com impactos nas narrativas de futuros para a Terra. Para realizar o estudo foi invocada uma abordagem metodológica do rol da categoria “SF” de Donna Haraway, o “jogo de cordas” (string figures); que visa construir de forma colaborativa outros futuros possíveis. O conto da Floresta-Corredor fabrica uma política que constrói um corredor ecológico do Sul ao Norte do Brasil, e discute novas configurações identitárias e territoriais para a América do Sul.

TERRITÓRIO, PODERES TUTELARES E AGÊNCIAS INDÍGENAS: ANÁLISES PRELIMINARES SOBRE TRÂNSITOS, TROCAS E R-EXISTÊNCIAS NA FRONTEIRA BRASIL-GUIANA FRANCESA (1930-1945)

O artigo analisa as dinâmicas indígenas na região de fronteira entre Brasil e Guiana Francesa, no contexto da Era Vargas (1930-1945). Visa entender suas configurações territoriais e agenciamentos em face às políticas estatais de ocupação dos sertões fronteiriços, no norte amazônico. Utilizando as fontes do Serviço de Proteção aos Índios, dimensiona as vivências e estratégias adotadas pelos povos indígenas da região para reinterpretar, e ressignificar, as ações tutelares que visavam disciplinarizar e dominar seus corpos, mentes e culturas. Isso engendrou outras formas de existência grupal entre os indígenas, que atendiam as pressões da sociedade envolvente sem ocasionar, no entanto, a perda de suas complexidades sociopolíticas e cosmológicas. Logo, a pesquisa revela, ainda de forma preliminar, o dinamismo desse quadro de relações interétnicas na Guiana indígena.Palavras-chave: Amazônia; fronteiras; territórios; relações interétnicas; r-existências indígenas.

Borders, Constituency Politics, and “Our Man” Voting in Electoral Geography of Ukraine

The electoral geography of Ukraine is predominantly based on compositional effect studies, which consider nationality, language, and foreign policy orientations as main cleavage lines in Ukrainian society. Alternatively, scholars admit statistical significance of the regional factor and often interpret it as a historically constituted political culture. Both approaches are based on census and state statistics data (most often at oblast (regional) level) and construct artificial regions for research purposes. We assume that such approaches neglect underlying territorial configurations of electoral behavior in Ukraine. The paper is based on data at polling stations level for 2002-2014 parliamentary elections. The thorough cartographic analysis was conducted to clarify in what cases phantom borders are manifested in electoral maps and to reveal other territorial configurations of electoral behavior in Ukraine. We found that historical borders influence is limited to voting for nationalists, communists, and parties which are perceived as pro-Russian, their manifestations are dependent on each elections context and parties’ electoral strategies, and they are complicated by the overlapping effects of the other factors of electoral behavior (including administrative borders). The paper reveals that constituency campaigning in single-member districts (SMD) can influence parties’ results at the national level PR vote and that scaling of “our man” voting is essential for parties’ electoral success and is used in electoral strategies. We also accentuate the role of administrative borders, local-national and regional-national alliances in electoral geography of Ukraine.

Presentación. Nuevos capitalismos y transformaciones territoriales en la región andina

This presentation introduces a special issue that analyzes the new territorial configurations taking shape in the Andean region under the developmentalist governments of the 21st century. The new territorial projects seek to increase the extraction of resources, the transference of crucial products on local level, and economic development. This remodeling transforms the techno-natural, cultural and political orders and creates new ‘capitalisms’ that facilitate knowledge production on, exploitation of, and control over local societies. This special issue analyzes the practical and political expressions of these new forms of social and ecological (re)territorialization.

Practice-applied aspects of the regional research methods in the territorial unit exploration

A characteristic feature of the scientific toolkit of geographic science is the ability to study objects, phenomena and processes simultaneously in their vertical and horizontal hierarchy. It is precisely such territorial configurations that can be identified by exploring one of the components of the territorial systems that is related to the population, its location and the specifics of the particular demographic situation. The results are aimed at creating and applying a model that can more effectively manage territorial systems and administrative units of different rank and hierarchy. The proposed model will complement the researches in the methodology for determining the gravitational zones, their typology and prognosis for the development of the demographic situation.

‘Civis Indianus sum’?Ambedkar on democracy and territory during linguistic reorganization (and partition)

AbstractThis article considers Ambedkar's ideas about the implementation of democracy in India, in the context of the linguistic reorganization of provincial administrative boundaries. In doing so, it looks to emphasize the importance of territorial configurations to Dalit politics during this period and, in particular, the consequences of ‘provincialization’, which has received little attention within the existing literature. Rethinking space by redrawing administrative territory provided Ambedkar with one potential avenue through which to escape the strictures of Dalits’ minority status. In this vision, linguistic reorganization (and partition) were harbingers of greater democratization and potential palliatives to the threat of Hindu majority rule at the centre. In turn, however, Ambedkar simultaneously came to perceive the creation of these new administrative spaces as marking a new form of provincial majoritarianism, despite his best efforts to form alliances with those making such demands. In this sense, the article also seeks to address some of the shared processes behind linguistic reorganization and partition as two related forms of territorial redrawing. In the face of these demands, and the failures of both commensuration and coalition politics, Ambedkar turned to the idea of separate settlements for Dalits, whereby they might themselves come to constitute a majority. Whilst such a novel attempt at separation and resettlement was not ultimately realized, its emergence within Ambedkar's thought at this time points towards its significance in any history of caste and untouchability in twentieth-century South Asia.