Territorial Strategies Research Articles

Challenges and obstacles in the production of cross-border territorial strategies

Cross-border strategies have been flourishing over the last few decades in Europe, mostly in a favourable context where European funding is available and legal instruments are well-developed. However, one may wonder which objectives are really targeted within this very broad and imprecise notion of cross-border strategy. The purpose of this paper is, first, to provide a theoretical framework in order to better understand the different meanings of the notion of cross-border integration and to provide a more critical perspective on its effects. Secondly, it analyses the policy content of the cross-border territorial strategy developed within the Greater Region before, in the final section, pointing out the difficulties faced by policy-makers during its elaboration. This final section is based on the insights brought both by the regional stakeholders interviewed and by our expertise as moderators and scientific advisors within the working group in charge of the realisation of the cross-border territorial strategy. The main finding of our analysis is that the consensus that has been reached by all the stakeholders is the “smallest common denominator”; that is to say, the least constraining.

The cross-border reterritorialization concept revisited: the territorialist approach applied to the case of Cerdanya on the French-Spanish border

ABSTRACTThe aim of this paper is to bring new elements into the theoretical discussion so as to better understand the realities of borderlands. Our goal involves projecting a new conceptualization of the cross-border territory and cross-border reterritorialization by refining the analytical framework envisioned by the current literature on border studies. More specifically, we apply the so-called ‘territorialist approach’, an innovative and culturally oriented approach for territorial studies that is rooted in the Italian geographical school. Cross-border territories are conceived as complex territorial units, whereby geographical, socioeconomic and cultural patterns are affected and thus altered by the fixation of international boundaries and territorialization. Nevertheless, the persistence of local cross-border networks, both formal and informal, contributes to the maintenance of a shared local milieu. The European integration processes, especially in view of the European Territorial Cooperation programmes, represent an important framework for supporting local cross-border cooperation and boosting new territorial strategies for borderlands. From this perspective, we hypothesize that new cycles of local cross-border reterritorialization can be observed along the EU borderlands by creating new forms of cross-border territorial capital. The case study of Cerdanya (French-Spanish border) illustrates the application of the theoretical framework by analysing the enduring experiences of cross-border cooperation.

The links between territorial marketing, regional sustainability policies and the brand positioning of a small firm: An analysis of best practice in the dairy sector

Territorial marketing strategies can be oriented towards sustainability in the agro-alimentary sector. This contribution presents and discusses a relevant case, analysing the marketing strategies that businesses, leveraging on their distinctive location, can pursue to create value for both themselves and their territory. The research approach was qualitative, involving a case study which included desk analysis and personal interviews with key actors in the dairy sector of an Alpine area. The study highlights the opportunities offered by differentiation strategies based on inter-sector integration, describing marketing and brand management choices, and underlining the importance of business organisation and governance in the creation of competitive advantage.

Guerrilla warfare, flagship project: The spatial politics of Chinese rock in Shenzhen’s post-political making of a musical city

Chinese rock, premised on an identity of dissenters, has always been underground symbolically and literally, in a pattern of spatial fluidity in the city. The introduction of live house might offer a solid material base for political subjectivation of the community. This spatial action of subjectivation in forms of “guerrilla warfare”, encounters the growing passion for cultural city making by Municipal Governments. Through the study on transformation of rock space in Shenzhen, we aim to reflect on scholarship on post-political forms of urban governance in China. By probing into the antagonistic actions of the police and the political, we call for attention to territorial strategies used by both sides to consolidate the existing order and to assert a new order respectively. The double side of partition revealed by Rancirian conception of politics of aesthetics allows the governing side to pick and co-opt particular producers and live houses while collapse and/or policing others to re-consolidate spatial orders. Guided by expert-formed consensus, citizen entitlement and citizen participation programmes convert cities to be propaganda sites where state-sanctioned aesthetics is delivered to and experienced by subject-citizens.

Spatial dialectics and the geography of social movements: the case of Occupy London

This paper develops spatial dialectics as an analytical method capable of exposing and explaining the contradictions, dilemmas and tensions that cut through the spatialities of social movements. Despite scholarly recognition of internal divides in movements such as Occupy, there is greater need to conceptualise the inherently contradictory nature of social movements, in particular by reflecting on the role of spatiality. Building on recent work on multiple spatialities of activism, the paper shifts attention to contradiction as a key factor in spatial mobilisation, further arguing that the recent turn to assemblage thought is ill equipped for such a task. Dialectics is introduced via Bertell Ollman's influential account of its ontological and epistemological bases, before turning to Edward Soja's reading of Henri Lefebvre to incorporate spatiality. Spatial dialectics disrupts the linearity of thesis–antithesis–synthesis, placing contradictions not only within the historical unfolding of relations but also within co‐dependent yet antagonistic moments of space, through Lefebvre's ‘trialetic’ of perceived, conceived and lived space. Building on ‘militant research’, which combined a seven‐month ethnography, 43 in‐depth interviews and analyses of representations of space, spatial dialectics is put to work through the analysis of three specific contradictions in Occupy London's spatial strategies: a global movement that became tied to the physical space of occupation; a prefigurative space engulfed by internal hierarchies; and a grassroots territorial strategy that was subsumed into logics of dominant territorial institutions. In each case, Occupy London's spatial strategies are explained in the context of unfolding contradictions in conceived, perceived and lived spaces and the subsequent dilemmas and shifts in spatial strategy this led to. In conclusion, the paper highlights broader lessons for social movements’ spatial praxis generated through the analysis of Occupy London.

Geographical variation in male territory defence strategies in an avian ring species

Interactions between sexual selection and ecology can drive phenotypic divergence between populations. Geographical variation in female preferences has been linked to ecology in several studies, but much less is known about patterns of geographical variation in male competition. I asked whether male aggressive territorial behaviour varied among three breeding populations of a ring species, the greenish warbler, Phylloscopus trochiloides. I measured aggressive response to playbacks of conspecific song at multiple time points to determine how territorial behaviour varied throughout the breeding season both within and between populations. Differences in the abundance and timing of resources necessary for raising offspring can shape male competitive strategies, and competition may consequently vary as a function of resource availability. I therefore combined assays of temporal variation in aggressive behaviour with season-long measures of food abundance, population density and parental provisioning rates. I found that the populations differed in intensity of aggressive response, the seasonal pattern of territoriality and the traits used in territorial responses. Overall intensity of aggression was lowest but most prolonged in the population with the lowest food abundance and highest population density, and males responded to playback primarily by singing. By contrast, birds in the two populations that experienced high food abundance and low population density exhibited a burst of aggressive display behaviour only when females were fertile. The results suggest that territorial strategies vary geographically and respond to limited resources, switching in function from season-long food defence where food is scarce to mate guarding where mates are scarce. Interactions between sexual selection and ecology across large geographical scales may ultimately lead to population divergence. The geographical variation in territorial behaviour observed in the greenish warbler implies that male competition may be an important diversifying force in this system.

From Cognitive Maps to Transparent Static Web Maps: Tools for Indigenous Territorial Control in La Muskitia, Honduras

As indigenous groups claim a fundamental role in the governance and management of the territories they inhabit, the evolution of digital and Web-based maps continues to offer tools that support these activities, while demonstrating to state governments, educators, and others the distinct indigenous concepts and practices inscribed on the Earth's surface. However, making map vector files available to the public can be problematic, because the indigenous stakeholders and their academic colleagues must relinquish control of how the data are displayed by the end user. The indigenous Miskitu, Tawahka, and Pech of Honduras, with university-based geographers, are developing a solution for keeping the original and intended design: transparent static maps (overlays) created in a GIS and made publicly viewable as raster tiles over a free virtual globe. The pioneering Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve participatory research mapping (PRM) project produced and published large-scale paper maps of the communities and their land use in and around the reserve in 1998–1999. Due to their limited circulation and use, and requests from indigenous authorities for the information they contained, in 2010 indigenous Miskitu and Tawahka leaders and University of Kansas geographers agreed to convert them to digital format for use in the long-term management of their lands, digitizing the PRM hard copy maps into GIS vector files first by 2012, and then finally to Web-based transparent static maps in 2013–2014. The PRM mapping experiences parallel contemporaneous shifts in political and territorial strategies among Honduras' indigenous peoples.

De la variété des ancrages territoriaux des firmes en Chimie Doublement Verte

Dans le contexte de la transition vers une chimie plus propre et mobilisant des ressources renouvelables agricoles (ou « chimie doublement verte »), les firmes developpant des strategies de recherche et developpement deploient des logiques d’ancrage territorial differentes. Cet article propose, a partir de quatre etudes de cas d’entreprises retenues, car emblematiques de ce secteur, de caracteriser ces logiques d’ancrage. On montre qu’elles s’appuient dans les cas etudies dans des logiques nationales ; et lorsque cela n’est pas le cas, il s’agit d’un signe et d’un resultat de la fragilite du business model de la firme.

Indian federalism at the crossroads: Limits of the territorial management of ethnic conflict

ABSTRACTThis article critically examines territorial strategies adopted by the Indian state to accommodate territorially concentrated minority groups in two very recent cases: the formation of Telangana (2014) and the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) (2003). We situate both cases within the broader context of linguistic state reorganization in India since the 1950s. We argue that while the formation of states on the basis of linguistic principle was necessary given the long history of demand for linguistic states in India, it is, as Telangana and BTC clearly bear out, not sufficient to accommodate minorities. This is especially the case when, inter alia, language is: (1) appropriated by the dominant group within a state (or states) as a vehicle to perpetuate political majoritarianism, (2) supplemented by weak power-sharing arrangement, and (3) occasioned by longstanding popular perceptions of historical injustices and relative deprivation.

Public Space as a Territorial Linkage. Theory and Application in a Marginal Urban Community of México.

This article is based on understanding public space as territorial linkage, establishes a method for its diagnosis and for the development of a territorial strategy that identifies intervention projects geared towards urban renewal in the urban community of Santa Margarita, in the city of Guadalajara, Mexico. This research concludes that this method can be applied to understand the territorial and social condition of public spaces and propose them as centralities and axis of urban development planning.

Cartographic support for territorial development strategies: actuality, present state and perspectives

Formulation of the problem. The authors of the territorial development strategies actively use different means of data visualization (tables, graphs, diagrams, infographics), neglecting maps. For example, only 14 % of the national sustainable development strategies of European countries are provided with maps. The root of the problem is the lack of a basic concept as to creation of strategy maps.The purpose of the article is to substantiate the relevance of cartographic support for the territorial development strategies, analyze its current state and define prospects.Main results. Maps are not only vivid and comprehensive means of data visualization, but also material for spatial analysis of the quality in achieving objectives set in the strategies. We consider active use of maps in development strategies relevant for all countries with a high level of geographic literacy and rich cartographic traditions.The analysis of modern development strategies of various territorial levels (145 documents have been analyzed) allowed us to highlight the following trends in their cartographic support: prevalence of survey maps over thematic ones; dominance of inventory and evaluation analytical maps; schematic character and aesthetic appeal of maps.At different stages of strategic planning it is appropriate to use various types of maps: at preplanning stage - survey, physical-geographic, socio-economic, ecological maps; when defining goals and objectives - it is expedient to develop at least one map illustrating its contents for each of the objectives set; when choosing the optimal scenario for the territory development - it is recommended to develop forecast maps; at the stage of strategy implementation - it is necessary to reflect the dynamics of indicators set for the objectives.Conclusions. Creating maps for territorial strategies is a new direction in thematic mapping. Its perspective development requires active involvement of cartographers into the formation of strategies, use of modern cartographic works, in particular web-atlases, and creation of mapping methodology.

Managing Integrated Care in Nursing Homes in Catalonia

Introduction : In our 200,000 inhabitants catchment area, north coast of Catalonia, 50km from Barcelona, you can find many Nursing Homes (2,000 beds). A 2006 study carried out by our organization, triggered by hospital admissions rising in elderly, showed that hospitalization rate in patients over 84 was 12.5% higher than Catalonia average and the percentage of emergency room admissions was twice the Catalonia average (4.75% vs. 2.4%). The 35% of hospitalizations came from Nursing Homes in this age group and they had a higher severity and longer length of hospital stay. Nursing Homes are typically under resourced, short-staffed and high turnover due to a highly demanding and poorly paid work weak acknowledgement. The study also found the staff had insufficient skill and knowledge to assess and manage common acute symptoms and chronic diseases crisis or palliative care. The primary care team assigned to these facilities in general didn’t know the residents and their role were purely administrative responding to basic requirements from Nursing Homes like transcribing prescriptions. Polypharmacy was common in these patients with an average of 126 prescriptions per person and year. Objectives : -To improve health care for the catchment population -To reduce the number of hospital admission and polypharmacy -To improve coordination between Nursing Homes and Health Care services and other clinical consultants -To unify criteria for the care of these patients Intervention : In 2007 a Support Team formed by a physician and a nurse, both trained in geriatrics, took charge of all the patients from the Nursing Homes in the catchment area of the Primary Health Care Centers managed by our organization (12 Nursing Homes, 981 beds). The rest of the Nursing Homes of the area who were receiving Primary Health Care from centers managed by another Heath Care provider (15 Nursing Homes, 1031 beds) continued to receive the usual primary care and served as a control group. The main roles of the Support Team were: -Offer comprehensive geriatric assessment, additional tests and treatments in Nursing Homes avoiding the reference of the residents to other health structures -Provide assistance to Nursing Homes staff in monitoring complex cases and palliative care -Standardize health care based on clinical practice guidelines -Case management and coordination across levels -Check and adjust drug treatment together with Nursing Homes staff. -Specialized training to Nursing Homes staff on how to avoid hospitalizations by using early interventions Results : In the Nursing Homes where the intervention was carried out: -Emergency room admissions dropped by 43% (1,069 in 2006 to 610 in 2014) -Hospital admissions fell 41% (437 in 2006 to 258 in 2014) -Polypharmacy decreased, 35% less prescriptions per bed (126 in 2006 to 82 in 2014) In the control group, there were not significant changes Discussion and conclusions : People living in Nursing Homes are elderly with high levels of dependency and increasing complexity health care requirements. The Health Care System and Nursing Homes have to adapt themselves to meet the growing needs of this group of population. Therefore, it is essential to include these facilities in territorial health care strategies, as well as a close cooperation and coordination between Nursing Homes and the different levels of health care, in order to provide effective and efficient care to this population. Despite the initial reluctance of some Nursing Homes to accept the Support Team activities, nowadays there is a close work between them since a complementary care is offered, resulting in a better care of the residents. Our model of integrate care has been acknowledged by the Agency for Innovation and Evaluation of Quality of Health Services in Catalonia (AQuAS) who identifies experiences which have a positive impact on strategic lines of Health System that can by in the futur implemented throughout the territory. Considering the results obtained, we can conclude that it is possible to improve care for people living in Nursing Homes through the involvement and cooperation of these facilities and territorial Health System.

Centre‐State Bargaining and Territorial Accommodation: Evidence from India

AbstractThis article assesses the evolution of territorial management in India across time. It shows how India gradually moved away from a relatively ‘integrationist’ territorial strategy at independence towards a more ‘accommodationist’ strategy’ in recent decades. The deepening of democracy, and more recently, liberalization have opened up more room for state political and economic autonomy. However, the limits of an accommodative strategy are clearly exposed in relation to the small but significant border states of the North East which can be seen as ‘minority nations’. I argue that the flexibility of the Indian constitution which enabled an accommodative response in the context of linguistic reorganization during the early decades after independence contrasts with a more repressive centric strategy in relation to India's minority nations. The article seeks to explain why the bargaining position of the latter states has been comparatively weak and why the centre has been comparatively less accommodative in its approach to these states.

Commission santé CNFG : journée jeunes chercheurs 2016

On Friday 25/11/2016 The Health Commission of the CNFG ( http://www.cnfg.fr/ ) organized a meeting devoted to the work of young researchers. It was held at the University of Rouen (Mont Saint Aignan). Renaud Misslin and Elise Autrive (Lab: IDEES, Rouen) provided the scientific secretariat. The objective was to organize a forum for discussing innovations and the variety of sub-disciplinary approaches; a good way to highlight the plurality of “health geographies” (A. Gatrell, 2002). The first part of the meeting consisted in a conference given by Éric Daudé (CNRS Researcher, UMR IDEES, Rouen). This introduction to the potential of Agent Based Modelling (ABM) in health geography was followed by the presentation of the PhD students, from various universities, listed below with a summary of their presentation Eric Daudé (UMR IDEES, Rouen): Complex Pathogenic Systems, Model and Simulation (introducing conference) The diversity of relations among factors that may trigger epidemics reveals the existence of complex pathogenic systems. As the search for mono-causality or linear causality became unproductive, deciphering this complexity is a major issue. To explore these old issues with a new point of view, we introduced the main concepts issued from complexity and agent-based models. We then illustrated this reflection about complex pathogenic system with dengue fever modelling. Thorigny Maxime (Univ. Reims, REGARS EA 6292) : The development of Telemedicine in France. A territorialisation of public policy? This communication analyses the way in which territory is taken into account during the deployment of telemedicine. It asks: What are the tensions to be observed between the implementation decided at the political level and the way the actors on the field deal with this issue? Georgelin Béatrice (Univ. Angers, ESO 6590) : Maternal and child health, territorial strategies and dynamics in Paris In the domain of Perinatal health, diverse stakeholders try to reduce socio-territorial inequalities of quality and access to care. This communication shows the plurality and complementarity of the territorial strategies implemented to meet the needs of the most vulnerable. In addition, in a context of increasing budgetary pressures, it reveals the weaknesses of this system of actors. Lucaccioni Heloïse (Univ. Paris Ouest Nanterre, LADYSS 7533) : Territorial vulnerability to the risk of emerging zoonotic diseases In this paper, I broadly present my doctoral research (background, theoretical and methodological framework, main arguments). In particular, I expose the originality of a geographical approach for the understanding of territorial vulnerability to the risk of zoonotic emergence, as well as the positioning of my research in the variety of approaches and innovations in health geography. Misslin Renaud (Univ. Rouen, UMR IDEES 6266) : Creation of environments for the behavioural simulation of epidemic vectors As part of the DENFREE project (FP7), an agent-based model for simulating the behaviour of individual mosquitoes in space has been implemented. This tool allows to study the population dynamics of mosquitoes operating under specific environmental conditions. This thesis aims to develop a model for reconstructing “in silico” urban environments, both for whole agglomerations and neighbourhoods within these agglomerations.

The contrasting fortunes of pro-sovereignty currents in Basque and Catalan nationalist parties: PNV and CDC compared

ABSTRACTThe contrasting fortunes of pro-sovereignty currents in Basque and Catalan nationalist parties: PNV and CDC compared. Territory, Politics, Governance. Nationalist parties based on regions within European states have seen cases of major shifts from accommodation to sovereignty-based assertiveness in their positioning vis-à-vis central government. While these have been interpreted elsewhere mainly in terms of changes in contextual influences, the activity of groups within parties aiming to redefine territorial strategies has received much less attention, not least in the case of Spain. This comparison of factional politics within Basque and Catalan nationalist parties since the 1990s highlights the significant influence of party-level factors in affecting the prospects of a decisive strategic shift. Factors such as the loss of political power by a party, competition during processes of leadership succession, generational renewal and distinctive party cultures help explain why the outcomes of such efforts differ. Transformation has proved more difficult to achieve in the context of complex decentralized governance structures at regional level, as in the Basque Country. There, the existence of varying identity configurations, reflected in different political balances at the sub-regional level, provided an impediment to a thorough radicalization of the Basque Nationalist Party, whereas in Catalonia more centralized political arrangements facilitated the transformation of Democratic Convergence of Catalonia and its eventual commitment to independence.

Deals for Sustainable Rural Territorial Development Strategies for Poverty and Hunger Reduction in Latin America: Major Trends, Processes and Challenges

Deals for Sustainable Rural Territorial Development Strategies for Poverty and Hunger Reduction in Latin America: Major Trends, Processes and Challenges

The temporality of territorial production – the case of Stortorget, Malmö

In recent years, we have seen the development of a more relational approach to territoriality. This perspective, which focuses on events rather than space, also opens up for an elaboration of temporal aspects of territorial production. In this study, I investigate the central urban square, Stortorget, in Malmö, Sweden, in order to develop a discussion of a time–space territorology. In 1978, Korosec-Serfaty performed a thorough study of the square, observing its everyday activities. The present study compares territorial productions at Malmö’s Main Square during 1978 with those of 2013. The results of the study indicate a change of time–space production in which temporary territorial appropriations and tactics tend to become shorter in duration, whereas the number of temporary and large-scale territorial strategies has increased and the role of these become more important. The study also shows how these territorial transformations include changes (in pace, rhythm, temporal salience and scale) that seem to vertically stabilise the territorial structure of the square, and thus decrease both territorial complexity and the possibilities for new publics to evolve.

Building a cross-border territorial strategy between four countries: wishful thinking?

ABSTRACTSince 2010 and the launch of the METROBORDER project, funded by ESPON, Luxembourg and the neighbouring regions in Belgium, France and Germany have pursued the objective of creating a cross-border polycentric metropolitan region. In order to achieve this goal, the political actors have decided to elaborate a cross-border territorial strategy to bring more coherence and cohesion to a cross-border region characterized by its strong functional integration, due to the very high number of cross-border commuters. This paper reflects the approach that we have followed, as external advisors, to animate the debate between the stakeholders and to provide evidence for the decision-making process. Its objective is to examine the content of this cross-border territorial strategy and to question whether such a strategy between four countries is at all possible, efficient and able to answer to challenges of cross-border integration. An analytical framework has been designed, taking into consideration different approaches of cross-border integration, in order to examine, in a critical way, the content of the cross-border strategy.

Territorial Policy: the Structure and Peculiarities of Influence on Spatial Organization of Society and Economy

Article is devoted to the analysis of structure of territorial policy and a place of regional policy in system of territorial strategies of various actors. The question of influence of “failures of the state” on realization of its spatial strategies in the market conditions is investigated, a number of vectors of optimization of the state regional policy are offered.

When Territoriality Meets Agency: An Examination of Employee Guarding as a Territorial Strategy

Do managers behave territorially toward their employees? Despite accumulating evidence demonstrating the prevalence of territoriality over nonagentic organizational resources, key questions remain regarding the extent to which psychological ownership and territorial behavior occur within supervisor-subordinate relationships. To explore this question, we drew on territoriality and mate-guarding theory to ascertain how and why managers might utilize one form of territoriality, anticipatory defenses, toward their employees. In a four-study investigation, we find that managers consistently engage in two forms of anticipatory defense tactics, persuasion and nurturing, that are intended to defend ownership claims over their employees and limit employee defection. Our results demonstrate a positive relationship between psychological ownership of subordinates and employee guarding directed toward those subordinates. We also find that managers engage in employee guarding more when they anticipate an employee is likely to defect, and they adapt guarding tactics in response to the subordinate’s general mental ability. Collectively, our results identify the motivations and conditions under which supervisors act territorially toward agentic subordinates, contributing to theory in territoriality and downward social influence.