En posant la question des « nouvelles ruralités », cet ouvrage étudie les dynamiques de tous ordres qui jouent sur les rapports entre villes et campagnes. Il présente tout d'abord un état des lieux des espaces ruraux et leurs tendances d'évolution. Puis il propose quatre scénarios de devenirs possibles des ruralités à l'horizon 2030 qui conduisent à une réflexion sur l'agriculture. En conclusion, cette prospective met en évidence que la diversité rurale perdurera tout en se modifiant, et qu'il s'agira d'être attentif à cette « géodiversité » des territoires, selon la formule d'Armand Frémont, et de l'intégrer dans les enjeux de recherche. Cet ouvrage intéressera aussi bien les acteurs de l'agriculture et de la recherche agronomique que ceux de l'aménagement du territoire, des collectivités territoriales, ainsi que les étudiants, les enseignants et chercheurs dans ces domaines.

Vivre Ici analyzes a diverse selection of contemporary French documentaries about spaces and places in France. Integrating film theory, eco-criticism and cultural history, Levine investigates documentary cinema as experience. The book reveals a collage-like, fragmented vision of France as seen through documentary cameras and explores the social and political consequences of these “films that matter.”

This book project highlights creative approaches to planning and local development. The dynamic complexity, diversity and fluidity which characterize contemporary society represent challenges for planning and development endeavours. While research and policy work has extensively focused on large cities and on metropolitan regions, there has been relatively little work on ‘smaller places’. This book shows that if these new challenges affect all places and regions, small and medium-sized towns (SMSTs) are suffering many specific problems that call imperatively for the design and implementation of very imaginative, creative approaches to planning and local development. What could enhance creativity in local development and planning? Is it possible to talk about creative capacity building at the level of a town that might release imaginative and innovative activities? Under what local and non-local conditions is creativity being initiated and flourishing? What are the major obstacles and in what way can these be contained in order to safeguard pockets of creative action? Interdisciplinary and with case studies from France, Norway and other European countries, this volume presents a wide range of approaches and territorial contexts of small cities and towns in which spatial dynamics and the consequences of the city-region for urban planning theory and practice in Europe are highlighted, with a special focus on the challenges for - and understanding of - planning and development of SMSTs. It provides a significant body of critical, comparative and contextual perspectives on the quest for urban sustainability and resilience in SMSTs, therefore emphasizing collaborative and potentially innovative approaches that can be detected, but also the shortcomings, pitfalls and 'traps' that can lie behind the approaches aimed at concerting ecological, economic, and socio-cultural concerns, and the discourses promoting them.

The changing look and feel of metropolitan France has been a notable preoccupation of French culture since the 1980s. This collection of essays explores concern with space across a range of media, from recent cinema, documentary filmmaking and photographic projects to television drama and contemporary fiction, and examines what it reveals about the fluctuating state of the nation in a post-colonial and post-industrial age.

This book provides insights and discusses the practical application of the theoretical concept of urban bioregion complementing the general bio-regional planning cross-disciplinary issues provided in Volume I. It examines planning practices, such as relocalisation of energy flows, land protection for climate change, territorial heritage enhancement, the consideration of urban ecosystems and agro-ecology. It presents discussions on regional contexts, practices and projects for a bioregional recovery, and includes case studies from France, Belgium, Spain, Greece, Austria and Italy, discussing topics that range from the reframing of local energy production/delivery planning systems to soil protection and farmland sustainable exploitation schemes. This volume concludes with three cross-European case studies that make clear the worldwide relevance and potential of bioregional approach beyond the Global North or Western countries.

This publication presents twenty papers delivered at an OECD conference on agricultural research. They highlight recent major progress in agricultural research outcomes and address the challenges that lie ahead.