Territorial Organization Of Society Research Articles

САМОВРЯДНА СКЛАДОВА ПУБЛІЧНОГО УПРАВЛІННЯ ІНКЛЮЗИВНИМ РОЗВИТКОМ ОБ’ЄДНАНИХ ТЕРИТОРІАЛЬНИХ ГРОМАД ТА РАЙОНІВ УКРАЇНИ

The formation of the UTC and of new districts led to significant changes not only in the administrative-territorial system, but also in the territorial organization of society, the key feature of which is manifested in the growing role in social processes of the self-governing as component of public administration in the conditions of the formation of "mixed" in terms of population composition, complex according to their functions, sectoral and socio-spatial direction of development of continuous-convergent formations of the agglomeration type with signs of inclusiveness. From this follows the scientific and practical relevance of the problem related to determining the role of the self-governing component of public management of inclusive development of UTC and regions of Ukraine. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the social purpose of the self-governing component of public management as a motivator and agent of inclusiveness formation within the spatial boundaries of the UTC and regions of Ukraine. For her implementation, the task of revealing the role of local identity in this process as the basis of an appropriate inclusive environment was formulated; of systemic characteristics of inclusive self-government; determining the place of the self-governing component in the system of public administration of inclusive development of UTC and districts. It is proven that the reform of decentralization of power and management created opportunities for the democratization of the system of public management of inclusive development through the direct implementation of self-governing principles at the level of local government and self-governing and representative interests of communities at the level of districts. However, such potential opportunities in the form of a self-governing component of public management of the inclusive development of these socio-spatial entities can turn into reality, first of all, under the condition of recognizing the individual as the primary self-governing link. This is precisely the scientific novelty of the research. It is noted that the basis of inclusive self-governance of UTC and districts is the organization of local communities' life activities through the formation of local identity, the self-determination of each person as an agent of inclusive development, followed by their involvement to cohesion and of integration around the solution of common social problems. Social inclusion of the residents of the UTC in the local space of the districts is possible under the condition of combining self-governing and management functions based on commonality and representation of the interests of each individual person, community and district local community as a whole. The formation of an inclusive local environment presupposes the presence of financial and economic, inclusive, self-governing and public-management capacity of UTC and districts. Attention is focused on the expediency of focusing further attention of scientists on the substantiation of the integral index of inclusiveness of these socio-spatial formations, as well as the deepening of scientific ideas about the essence of inclusive governance.

Transformation of Urban Settlement and Urbanization in the Perm Krai in the XX–XXI Centuries

This article studies the issues of the deployment of urbanization processes in the modern territory of the Perm Krai from the beginning of the 20th century until the 2020s based on the historical and geographical approach. The purpose of the work is to identify the historical and geographical differences between these processes and outline their comprehensive characteristics. The sources of information were the works of representatives of the Perm school of human geography, various statistical collections, electronic publications and reference books containing data on the administrative and territorial structure of the Perm region, as well as changes in urbanization indicators in the region during the 20th–21st centuries. The authors determine four stages in the development of urbanization in the region based on a comparison of indicators of the dynamics of growth in the number of urban settlements and the growth rate of the urban population taking into account historical, spatial and socio-economic properties and events. It is assumed that the results of each stage were the transformations in the urban settlement system of the region, which was reflected in the expansion (until the 1970s–1980s) or contraction (since the 1990s) of the region’s urban space, changes in the ratio of categories of urban settlements by population, which to date have led to an overconcentration of urban residents in the regional center and its hypertrophied role in the territorial organization of society in the Perm region. The results of the study may be of practical interest to specialists in the field of strategic and territorial planning, who develop documents for the prospective development of the region or determine models for such development. The activities of the regional policy of the Perm Krai at the present stage should take into account the negative experience of the past and outline ways out of the current situation through the creation of a more balanced regional system of settlement and management.

EXPRESSION OF SOCIAL DIMENSION: THE DISTRIBUTION OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SERVICES FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM IN TERNOPIL REGION

The intensive development of new information and communication technologies (ICT) has led to major changes in society. The widespread use of smartphones and mobile communications has allowed today to create new programs and services to improve human life. This development changes the established habits of human communication, the relationship between society and the environment. A social networking service (SNS) is a service (on a website or through a mobile application) that allows users to share a personal profile and establish contacts with other users. Social networking services affect the territorial organization of society and can be used for the development of both settlements and entire territories to make their development more sustainable and balanced.
 The study of social networking services is currently on the rise. The joint efforts of many sciences (sociology, psychology, geography, mathematics, statistics, computer science, etc.) are needed to understand the subject essence of the phenomenon and to analyze data.
 Approaches to the study of social networking services can be divided into three large groups: 1) in terms of human relations and relationships; 2) in terms of content distributed on the network; 3) in terms of spatial aspects of the functioning of the social network. In Ukraine, there are no detailed studies of the spatial aspects of the spread of social networking services at the local level.
 In the Ternopil region, there is a pattern of concentration of the majority of Facebook and Instagram users in the largest cities, namely Ternopil, Chortkiv, Berezhany, Kremenets. Buchach, Borshchiv, Zalishchyky, Terebovlya, and Shumsk districts stand out among the districts by the number of users.
 An important indicator that characterizes the spread of social networking services is the penetration rate of the social network, which is calculated as the ratio of the number of users in a certain territory to the population living in it. Cities of regional subordination differ in terms of the penetration rate of SNS. The highest values were observed in Chortkiv, Ternopil, Kremenets cities. The penetration rate of social networking services in the administrative districts of Ternopil region is much lower. A relatively high rate (over 30%) was recorded in Buchach, Berezhany and Shumsk districts. Extremely low penetration rate (less than 5%) is in Zbarazh, Chortkiv, Zboriv districts which are adjacent to the cities of regional subordination.
 The social networking service Instagram is inferior to Facebook in level of development, and its main users are mainly young people. However, in the territories where the rate of Facebook penetration is the lowest in the region (Ternopil, Zbarazh, Chortkiv, Zboriv districts), the predominance of Instagram is noted.
 Thus, the main patterns of spatial distribution of SNS’ Facebook and Instagram in Ternopil region are: concentration of users in the largest cities, especially in the regional center Ternopil City (half of Facebook and Instagram users in the region); the number of users is proportional to the population in the territorial unit; small number of users and low penetration rate of the SNS’ in the administrative districts adjacent to the cities of regional subordination Ternopil and Chortkiv; among administrative districts, higher indicators of social network development are typical for northern and southern districts in comparison with central ones.
 Key words: social networking service (SNS), penetration rate of the SNS, Facebook, Instagram, Ternopil region.

Intellectual Data Mining in Socio-Geographic Research

In social geography, aimed at understanding the territorial organization of society, various methods are used, including data mining. However, there is no generalization of the experience of using such methods in world science. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to analyze the global array of scientific articles on this issue to identify priorities, algorithms and thematic areas with their capabilities and limitations. Using the author's method of semantic search based on machine learning, about two hundred articles published in the last two decades have been identified in eight bibliographic databases. Their generalization made it possible to identify chronological and chorological priorities, as well as to establish that a limited number of algorithms had been used for the geospatial data mining, which can be combined into groups of neural network, evolutionary, decision trees, swarm intelligence and support vector methods. These algorithms were used in five thematic areas (spatial-urban, regional-typological, area-based, geo-indicative and territorial-connective). The main features and limitations in each direction are given.

State crisis: concepts and classification

The article deals with the concept and signs of state crisis. The classification of state crises according to different criteria is presented. The state, as a political and territorial organization of society, is a complex system of various elements that function in interrelationship and interdependence and must serve the interests of civil society. Of course, if such a state is ideally related to it, society, it functions to meet its needs. The failure of one part of a complex multilevel State mechanism will inevitably have negative and sometimes irreversible consequences for other elements, which in itself will already be an indicator of certain crisis phenomena. What is a crisis of the State and what is its classification, in our view, these very issues are extremely relevant to the theory of the State and are the subject of our consideration. The crisis of the state is a destructive state of the state mechanism, due to the improper functioning of which antagonistic contradictions in the society aggravate, conflicts are formed, which the state can overcome or solve without a positive transformation, which in turn can threaten the state sovereignty and territorial integrity, and eventually can lead to its destruction. The main signs of the state crisis are: – destructive effects on the State itself and society as a whole; – the exacerbation of numerous conflict situations in various areas of society; – the failure of quality public administration; – contradiction between the state and society, between the ruling elite and the people, between different segments of the population; – a real threat to State sovereignty and territorial integrity; – the rebirth, transformation or destruction of statehood. By temporal criterion, a state crisis can be divided into: short-term (acute), prolonged (long-term), permanent (chronic). By the scale of coverage of certain state institutions and spheres of state regulation it is necessary to determine: microcrisis, mesocrisis, macrocrisis, mega-crisis. By subjects of coverage, these are a crisis of the state mechanism, a crisis of the state apparatus, a crisis of individual state organisations, a crisis of state resources, a crisis of individual branches of power. According to the political aspects of coverage, the crisis of the state is divided into: crisis of ruling elites, crisis of opposition forces, which in its turn can be divided into: crisis of radical opposition; crisis of moderate opposition; crisis of legal opposition and crisis of illegal opposition. Such a feature as legitimacy of the state power gives grounds to speak about: crisis of a legitimate state and crisis of an illegitimate state. The question of legal justification of the state power, its compliance with legal norms, which is a sign of its legitimacy, gives the necessity to determine: crisis of the legal state and crisis of the illegal state. A significant indicator of the definition of crisis phenomena in a State is the degree to which they are predictable. According to such criterion it is possible to define: not an assumed crisis of the State, an assumed crisis of the State, a controlled crisis of the State. According to the expected consequences of a crisis phenomenon in the State, emphasis should be placed on a destructive crisis, a potential crisis and a transformational crisis. Special attention should be paid to the study of classification of the crisis of the state according to the social and economic formation: crisis of the slave state, crisis of the feudal state, crisis of the capitalist state, crisis of the socialist state. Conflicts in society and the formation of conflicts in the state may be connected with the pressing need to change the form of state governance: crisis of monarchies and crisis of republics. Depending on the form of the state (territorial) system, the crisis of simple (unitary) states and the crisis of complex states, primarily empires, can be distinguished. Classification of state crises where the criterion is this or that form of state political regime seems quite justified: the crisis of anti-democratic states, the crisis of democratic states. In the areas of dominant coverage (manifestation) of crisis phenomena: economic crisis, social crisis, political crisis, religious crisis of the state, information crisis of the state.

Analysis of the efficiency of the use of natural resources capacity of ukrainian consolidated territorial communities

The problems of efficient use of natural resources capacity in conditions of administrative and territorial reform show themselves the most at local level. That is why it is important to eliminate contradictions that emerge between population and economic entities on one side and territorial natural sector on the other side at the level of consolidated territorial communities (CTCs). Natural resources are the component of complex territorial natural systems. A certain combination of various types of natural resources or modifications of one type of resources within the integral system forms the territorial combination of natural resources. Therefore, the analysis of the use of natural resources capacity of communities is of utmost importance for forming of the CTCs’ development policy. The paper aims to analyze the natural resources capacity of CTCs, detect and substantiate the process of forming, use and maintenance of natural resources capacity of CTCs and to form the directions and measures to increase it. Methodology of research. The set tasks are accomplished by means of calculations groups of sub-indices: budget efficiency of the use of natural resources capacity; density of natural resources; provision with resources; rent payments. Findings. The use of natural resources capacity to fill the CTC’s budget is analyzed; density of natural resources at the territory of a CTC is determined; provision of a CTC’s population with natural resources is calculated; main aspects of rent payment as the main revenue to local budget are examined; reserves of increasing of natural resources capacity of communities are detected. Practical value. The paper proves that participation of residents in control over the use and protection of natural resources on their territory and complex assessment of natural resources based on cadaster data as information-analytical ground for making managerial decisions by CTC’s authorities on nature management are of the utmost importance for the development of communities. Keywords: administrative-territorial reform, budget, authorities’ decentralization, consolidated territorial communities, natural resources capacity, rent. REFERENCES 1. Shkuratova, І. І. (2011). Upravlinnya pryrodnoresursnym potentsialom v ekonomichniy systemi rehionu [Management of natural resources capacity in economic system of a region]. Visnyk Akademiyi mytnoyi sluzhby Ukrayiny. Seriya Derzhavne upravlinnya – Bulletin of the Academy of Customs Service of Ukraine. Series Public management, 1, 92–97 [in Ukrainian]. 2. Dmitriyevskiy, Yu. D. (1968). Prirodnyy potentsial i yego kolichestvennaya otsenka Sovetskiye geografy KHKHÍ MGK [Natural potential and its quantitative assessment. Soviet geographers XXI MGK]. Moscow: Nauka [in Russian]. 3. Reymers, N. F. (1990). Prirodopol'zovaniye: slovar'-spravochnik [Nature management: reference dictionary]. Moscow: Mysl [in Russian]. 4. Danylyshyn, B. М., Dorohuntsov, S. I., Mishchenko, V. S., Koval, Y. V., Novotorov, О. S., Palamarchuk, М. М. (1999). Pryrodno-resursnyy potentsial staloho rozvytku Ukrayiny [Ntural resources capacity of Ukraine’s sustainable development]. Kyiv: RVPS of Ukraine [in Ukrainian]. 5. Rudenko, V. P. (1993). Heohrafiya pryrodnoresursnoho potentsialu Ukrayiny [Geography of natural resources capacity of Ukraine]. Lviv: Svit [in Ukrainian]. 6. Shevchuk, L.T. (2001). Rozmishchennya produktyvnykh syl [Distribution of productive forces]. Lviv: Publishers. LNU them. Ivan Franko [in Ukrainian]. 7. Pavlov, V. I., & Lukin, S. O. (2002). Ekonomichnyy potentsial rehionu: diahnostyka ta realizatsiya [Economic potential of the region: diagnostics and realization]. Lutsk: Overhang [in Ukrainian]. 8. Klochkov, V. А. (1996). Opredeleniye prirodno-resursnogo potentsiala territorii kak element optimizatsii prirodo pol'zovaniya. Territorial'naya organizatsiya obshchestva i upravleniye v regionakh [Defining the natural resources capacity of a territory as na element of optimization of nature management. Territorial organization of society and management in the regions]. Voronezh [in Russian]. 9. Derevyaho, I. P. (2008). Analiz vosproizvodstvennykh protsessov v sisteme ustoychivogo razvitiya [Analysis of reproduction processes in the system of sustainable development]. Problemy sovremennoy ekonomiki – Problems of Modern Economy, 2(26), 45-52 [in Russian]. 10. Zhuk, P. V. (2013). Pryrodno-resursnyy potentsial ta pryrodnyy kapital u paradyhmi staloho rozvytku Karpat·skoho rehionu [Natural resources capacity and nature capital in the paradigm of sustainable development of Carpathian region]. Sotsialno-ekonomichni problemy suchasnoho periodu Ukrayiny – Socio- Economic Problems of Modern Period of Ukraine, 5(103), 48–57 [in Ukrainian]. 11. Hrynchyshyn, I., Bil, M., Popadynets, N., Leshchuh, I., Patytska, K. (2019). Theoretic interpretation of the components of territorial communities endogenous capacity. Organizational- economic mechanism of management innovative development of economic entities: collective monograph / edited by M. Bezpartochnyi, in 3 Vol. / Higher School of Social and Economic. – Przeworsk: WSSG, 2, 19–30 [in Poland]. 12. Supreme Council of Ukraine (2010). Podatkovyy kodeks Ukrayiny [The Tax Code of Ukraine] (Adopted on 2010, December 02, 2755-VI). Retrieved from https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/term/25651:59886 [in Ukrainian]. 13. Supreme Council of Ukraine (2016). Pro vnesennya zmin do Byudzhetnoho kodeksu Ukrayiny shchodo zarakhuvannya rentnoyi platy za korystuvannya nadramy dlya vydobuvannya nafty, pryrodnoho hazu ta hazovoho kondensatu [Amendments to the Budget Code of Ukraine on the calculation of rents for the use of mineral resources for the extraction of oil, natural gas and gas condensate]: Law of Ukraine, adopted on 2016, December 20, 1793-VIII. Retrieved fro: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/main/1793-19 [in Ukrainian]. Published: 2020-03-26

TRANSFORMATION OF THE TERRITORIAL AND SECTORAL STRUCTURE OF INDUSTRY OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS

The purpose of the study is to identify and characterize the transformation processes that occurred in the territorial and sectoral structure of the industry of the Republic of Belarus from 1990 to 2018. The study was conducted on the basis of the use of original database of industrial enterprises created by the author. The methodical algorithm of the economic and geographical analysis of changes in the territorial-branch structure of the industry on the basis of an estimation of territorial concentration, territorial differentiation of manufacture and accompanying structural changes is offered. As a result, the author came to the conclusion that a robust center-peripheral stratification of the territorial-sectoral structure has developed with the formation of the Minsk industrial agglomeration given a growing number of industrial enterprises and nodal elements in Belarus over the period of the research. This requires the development of directions for improving the territorial organization of society and regional policy in the country. The novelty of the study is determined by the first economic and geographical analysis of transformational changes in the territorial and sectoral structure of industry of the Republic of Belarus for the entire period since the proclamation of sovereignty. This analysis is based on the use of the author’s database on the number of large and medium-sized industrial enterprises. On the one hand, it is characterized by a number of limitations, but, on the other hand, it has a practical advantage in relation to other works on similar subjects.

Стратегічна екологічна оцінка території як складова децентралізації (на прикладі Львівщини)

Ukraine has a unique chance during the next 5 years to form a new model of a territorial system based on the strength of the united communities. The greatest achievement of this reform is the ability for communities to plan their own development, transfer of powers and resources to local communities. To a large extent, this relates to the spatial planning system, which obviously needs to be improved in line with European standards, including environmental protection. The purpose of this article is to consider the geographical aspects of spatial planning of territories in conditions of decentralization and their role in ensuring a high level of environmental protection and promoting the integration of environmental considerations in the preparation and approval of projects and programs to ensure sustainable development of the territory. The author considers strategic environmental assessment as an integral part of decentralization, which focuses on modern concepts of the territorial organization of society, the natural frameworks of ecological safety of territories. The legal aspects of the strategic environmental assessment procedure (SEA) have been analyzed. Strategic environmental assessment is carried out by assessing the environmental protective components and their functions. It contains the characteristics of natural resource potential, the task of environmental protection, the recommendations of environmentally advisable nature management. It is noticed that in each territorial community the main directions of research, depending on the territory of planning, may be varied: removal of technogenic cover and land reclamation, restoration of groundwater level, increase of forest area, reducing pollution of harmful substances, noise, increasing the value of the landscape. Implementation of strategic environmental assessment in the communities of the region is limited: inconsistency of different plans, low level of availability of general plans of settlements, lack of funding, staffing. Key words: strategic environmental assessment, territorial community, decentralization, spatial development of the territory.

Human geography in Ukraine: problems of development and priority research directions

The problems of development of scientific schools of human geography in Ukraine are determined. It is shown that contemporary human geography in Ukraine is a methodologically formed science with its own theoretical and methodological apparatus, which under the current conditions should be aimed at solving the applied problems regarding the improvement of the socio- territorial organization in Ukraine.The article analyses the different functional aspects of development of human geography in Ukraine. Among the main problems that hinder the development of scientific schools, and there- fore the science in general, are the following: individualized activity of scientific schools without specific purpose, partial realization of their contribution to all-school social geography, and contribution to the world of science; the problem of definition , which is as- sociated with the use of simultaneous usage of different terms for the science ;«economic and social geography», «socio-economic geography», «social geography»; the problem of social differentiation, geography and lack of a pivotal system of logically completed laws of science that could integrate different paradigms and research areas; lack of implementation of applied science functions and etc. Considerable attention is paid to the prospects of comprehension of human geography related to improvement of the theo- retical basis in accordance with the realities of the beginning of XXI century, emphasis is placed on applied aspects of science and avoidance of pointless abstraction.The strategic goal of socio-geographical science is the determination of economic, demographic, social, political and environmental capacities of the geographic shell, justification of rational parameters of regional and global nature management, identification of the main trends of technological, sectoral and territorial development of the economy of Ukraine and its regions.It is proved that the main tasks of the science are also studies of the quality of life of the population; improvement of the structure of production and its transfer to an innovative level; definition and achievement of the optimal social, functional-branch and territorial structure of the economy; optimizing the structure of economic, social, political and other ties. At the regional and local levels, priorities include the problems of nature use and nature conservation, the development of depressed regions, the justification and implementation of regional economic, social, demographic and environmental policies. The key to solving these problems from the methodological point of view is the substantiation of the general theory of regional studies taking into account the diversity of the territorial organization of society.

Monitoring of geo-economic transformation of the world market of tourist services

In the article on the basis of system-synergetic approach propose theoretical and methodological background of the publicly-geographical monitoring of global transformation of world market of tourist services. Among the new methods used in research are methods of foresight technologies and socio-economic modeling of the development of the object. Proposed and justified from the standpoint of socio-economic geography concept of «global market space» as functional and organizational environment and form of interaction between the cultural and trade and economic fields in the process of transformation of national economies. The influence of the civilization factor on the territorial organization of society was analyzed. The geo-economics features of the transformation of the world market of tourist services and the formation of a global market space were exposed. The hierarchical levels and sub-levels of the territorial organization of the global socio-geographical system are singled out. On the basis of the use of methods of ranging and multidimensional classification the development of global market space is worked out with selection 9 macro-regional markets of the world. In the context of the author's interpretation of the term «civilization» the definition of global civilization is justified. The influence of civilization factor in the territorial organization of society has been analyzed. Geo-economic, cratopolitical, environmental aspects of spatial transformation of socioheosystems has been clarified.

О территориальной организации общества и территориальном планировании (о книге В.Н. Лаженцева «Содержание, системная организация и планирование территориального развития»)

О территориальной организации общества и территориальном планировании (о книге В.Н. Лаженцева «Содержание, системная организация и планирование территориального развития»)

Territorial organization of society and territorial structure of a state

The paper shows the wave-like change in the territorial structure of Russia occurred under the influence of governance factors, presents a number of detailed definitions, and formulates the basic methodological requirements to be met in decision-making processes.

Flat ontology and the deconstruction of scale: a response to Marston, Jones and Woodward

To identify the subject matter of human geography it is generally necessary to draw spatial boundaries at some level of abstraction. Whether the focus is upon patriarchalism or the new imperialism, areal differentiation or economic integration, the determination of such boundaries will usually be required at some stage in the proceedings. Spaces do not however occur in the singular: each locality, for example, is defined not only by contrast with other localities, but also with non-local territories of different sizes (such as bodies or regions). Indeed, it is by codifying this system, projecting a world that is divided not only into a 'horizontal' structure (in which similar activities are organized at similar scales in different places) but also a 'vertical' structure (in which different activities are organized at different scales covering the same places), that scale analysis acquires its conceptual power. The framework of nested scales was introduced during the 1950s and 1960s as a categorical device for describing spatial patterns at different levels of aggregation. From the early 1980s it was however argued that scales reflect real differences in the territorial organization of society, and it is on this basis that scale analysis (including perhaps the body, home, locality, region, nation, supranational and global levels) has extended its influence: 'integral to the production of space, capital produces certain distinct spatial scales of social organisation' (Smith 1984, 87; see also Taylor 1982; Kurtz 2003; Gough 2004; Uitermark 2005; for a useful review see Sheppard and McMaster 2004). But whether it is composed of nominal categories or real territories, the scale analytic cannot be segregated from the rest of traditional human geography but is symptomatic of this, and of the spatial structuralism with which it is generally imbued. Over broadly the same period, however, the writings of Lacan and Foucault, Deleuze and Derrida, Cixous and Irigaray have informed a post-structural critique of presence and identity that challenges the coherence of abstract structures. Feminists have argued, for example, that the spaces of structural geography, the spaces that can be exhaustively analysed scale by scale, express the territorial logic of patriarchy (Rose 1993, 149; 1996, 62). The masculine desire to stabilize meaning leads therefore to the drawing of boundaries around territories: 'envelopes are another solid then; they depend on a certain kind of space to constitute the masculine subject and his feminine (m)other' (Rose 1996, 71). Indeed, in her deconstruction of these boundaries Rose pursues the language of a 'paradoxical space', a space that lurks beneath the bounded space of geography, a space of flows and melding that (for example) undermines the distinction between the real and the metaphorical: 'It is to write as if the mirrors were not solid but permeable, as if the tain could move ...' (Rose 1996, 72; 1993, 140-1). But perhaps the first deconstruction of spatial structuralism after that of Derrida himself was provided by actor-network theory, which acknowledges the reality of macrostructures (such as nested scales)

Réflexions sur l'évolution contemporaine des centres-villes (Reflections on present-days trends in town centres)

Abstract. - Urban research no longer approaches the study of town centres as it did thirthy years ago. Have old neighbourhoods stepped into the place of town centers ? Centrality appears more as a stage in the territorial organization of society than as an aggregate of central activities practiced here. This is revealed by the centrality cycles of the last three centuries. The improvement of central areas through renovation, restoration and rehabilitation is well under way. It is neither complete nor uniform. The reoccupation and gentrification of the town centre are ambiguous notions.