Metropolitics

Sentinel Territories: A New Concept for Looking at Environmental Change

2020-05-08T05:00:00Z

In this essay, the authors develop the concept of “sentinel territories,” or environments where humans can perceive early warning signs of environmental change. Sentinel territories can illuminate common features of spaces where environmental issues emerge and be used as a tool to advance environmental policies.
This paper attempts to broaden the notion of “sentinel devices,” borrowed from science and technology studies (STS) scholars, to develop the concept of “sentinel territories.”

- Essays / sentinel, sentinel territories, environment, climate change, environmental change, territory, risk, preparedness, mitigation

From Transit to Settlement. A Mexican Border Town's Transition from a Transit Space to a Waiting Territory

Isabel Gil-Everaert — 2020-03-03T06:00:00Z

Tanapan, a border town in southern Mexico has long been a point of passage for Central American migrants bound for the United States. Since 2014, new restrictions have gradually changed it into a waiting territory. How was it transformed into a new involuntary destination?
In early July 2016, Lucy invited me for lunch at her house. I had met her the previous summer, while she was staying at La Palma, a migrant shelter located in Tanapan, a small town in southern Mexico where I conducted

- From the Field / Mexico, borders, United States, migrants, migration, shelter, waiting, transit space, territory, Guatemala

Nuits Debout Across Greater Paris: The Spread of a Political Innovation

Laurent Beauguitte & Nicolas Lambert & translated by Oliver Waine — 2019-12-20T06:00:00Z

As France experiences strikes and demonstrations in protest against pension reforms, we look back to the spring of 2016 and the Nuit Debout movement that developed almost spontaneously in opposition to a proposed shake‑up of France's labor laws. Although Place de la République in Paris was the nexus of events—and virtually the sole focus of media attention—plenty was going on elsewhere in France, especially in towns and suburbs around Paris, where local offshoots sought to redefine citizen

- From the Field / Nuit debout, mobilization, protest, politics, political participation, engagement, public space, territory, mapping, Paris region, Greater Paris, Paris, France, Île-de-France

Beyond the stadium: how “ultra” supporters fit into the urban space

Bérangère Ginhoux & translated by Oliver Waine — 2015-12-11T05:55:00Z

Based on an ethnographic survey conducted in Saint-Étienne, in south-eastern France, Bérangère Ginhoux shows how the activities of “ultras” groups extend beyond the stadium and are very much present in the urban space. She describes their quest for visibility in the public space and reveals how the city becomes the object of a symbolic competition between different groups.
Claiming to be part of a movement that emerged in Italian football stadiums in the 1960s and present in France since the

- From the Field / France, public space, local attachment, territory, sport, use of space, supporters, football, ultras, Saint-Étienne, social group

Shale Gas: Local Democracy vs Central Government

Pascal Terrasse & translated by Oliver Waine — 2012-01-18T06:00:00Z

Without local consultation, the French government has granted permission for the exploration of shale gas plays across the whole of France – despite the fact that the debate on the environmental consequences of shale gas production, due to the hydraulic fracturing procedure, has highlighted the risk of a catastrophe in ecological and health-related terms in the areas concerned. Pascal Terrasse, leader of Ardèche departmental council, proposes ways to ensure the voices of areas affected are

- Debates / risk, local democracy, territory, energy