This second sub-area corresponds to a body of research focusing on territorial stakeholders, considered as an object of research. This research is deliberately more critical, with the aim of deciphering stakeholder logics that cannot be seen directly.

Over the last few decades, research into so-called ‘critical’ and/or ‘radical’ geography and ‘urban studies’ has become central to the field of research into territorial actors. What they have in common is a desire to develop critical knowledge about inequalities of power among stakeholders, particularly when they are linked to inequalities of economic capital in a context of neo-liberalization of cities. That said, this work is sometimes criticized for lacking a systematic approach to the analyses carried out, and for being unable to reproduce the results.

In line with this research trend, and as part of the UMR ThéMA, the work in the sub-area (2 - Actors) develops analyses that are generally methodologically explicit, well-equipped and reproducible. This may take the form of analysis of textual or visual corpora or of the issues surrounding the data used in geomatics by various public and private players.

Examples of projects : Rétro-Planning, ANR VéloCovid, MuSca-P (IUF)

Come back to the area Territories, Actors, Mediation