6533b830fe1ef96bd1296de7

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Territories, observation and governance. Tools, methods and realities

subject

description

The thesis is presented in three parts which include the three key words of the title and put intoperspective the function of territorial observation, with an approach to complexity mostly empiricaland constantly referring to systemics.The first part focuses on the polysemic notion of territory. Modeling the process of territorializationallows us to bypass the semantic difficulty that arises from multiple uses of the term in the literatureand in interviews conducted with experts. The territory is then revealed in different forms ofcombinations of tangible and intangible dimensions, and individual or collective representations.The second part is based on concrete achievements of observatories to develop and implement acomparative approach between thirty observatories according to their structure and functioning. Thissecond part of the work reveals sharp contrasts and lack of a consensual model which are the signs ofachievement and not an appropriate standard approach based on observation.Consideration sets of actors takes place during the third part which deals with governance for and byobservation. We raise questions about the structures and organizations which exist or should be set upso as to allow a better integration of observatories and an issue that is the decision support by theinstrumentation of geographic information