UMR_D 228 ESPACE-DEV - Espace pour le DÉVeloppement

Activities

Created in 2011, the UMR ESPACE-DEV conducts fundamental, technological and applied research that integrates data, knowledge and methods for the benefit of scientific communities and decision-makers in the context of projects for the sustainable development of territories in the South at local, regional and global scales.
The research is carried out in three synergistic teams: Spatial Observation of the Environment (OSE), Integrated Approach to Environments and Societies (AIMS), Modelling, Knowledge Engineering and Geospatial Data Analysis (MICADO).
The research is conducted in various environments (islands, coasts, forests, mountains, arid zones, etc.) on peripheral and/or isolated territories that have in common that they are fragile and/or changing under the constraints of global change. They seek to provide answers to local populations and development managers by providing information on the viability of their systems (sociosystems, agrosystems, ecosystems) and the viability of their territories.
The UMR ESPACE-DEV develops its research activities from a multi-site system whose main location is in Montpellier.

ORGANISATION

Trustees of the UMR

• IRD
• University of Reunion
• University of the West Indies and Guyana
• University of Montpellier II

ASSOCIATED RESEARCH UNITS 

• Agreement with the University of Avignon
• Agreement with the University of Perpignan (2015)

DIRECTION 
Unit Manager: Carmen Gervet
Deputy Director: Gwenaëlle Pennober (UR)
Director of the M2ST research group (Modalities of Tourism Systems and Territorial Systems) within the UMR: Yannick Hascoët

GDR RESEARCHERS
Yannick Hascoët (MCF in geography)
Anne-Luce Coulomb (PAST)
Louis Violette (MCF, Univ Réunion)
Pierre Dérioz (HDR and MCF in geography)
Nada Matas (MCF English language and literature)
Jean-Christophe Gay (PR of geography, Nice Sophia Antipolis)
Philippe Bachimon (PR Emeritus of Geography)

ASSOCIATED RESEARCHERS
Zeid Kassoura (PhD in Geography)
Anh Thu Le (Doctor of Geography)
Laurent Arcuset (PAST)

SITE MANAGER AVIGNON
Pierre Dérioz

Courses offered

• Master of Tourism Project Management and e-tourism (UAPV)
• Master Geomatics, Montpellier : UE "Actors, Territory and Governance".
• Master Patrimoine EPNS, Paris: "Evolution, Natural Heritage and Societies
• Master EDTS, Paris: "Environment, Development, Territories and Societies
• Master TRN, Réunion : "Remote Sensing and Natural Hazards
• Master Tourism, Reunion: "Tourism, Heritage and Territory
• Master Urban and Environmental Engineering (Reunion)
• Master of Arts (M.A.) International Tourism Management of the FHW (Womrs, All)
• Master's degree in Geomatics and Territorial Project Management (UAPV, attached to the UMR Espace 7300 CNRS)

Research activities

The Avignon team is attached to one of the AIMS team's research groups entitled PASSAGE, for "Landscape and Observatory for Resource and Territory Management". It develops innovative research according to two specific approaches to territories:

• one via the landscape and its multidimensional character (material, spatial, cultural, legal dimension...) as a source of information and tools for knowledge of territorial systems and their transitions, as a resource for the development of territories, and as a vector for concerted or participative approaches;
• the other via tourism and the issues of heritage and identity building.

Partnerships

• Universities: Antilles Guyanes, Reunion Island, New Caledonia, Worms (Germany), Freiburg, Geneva, Paris 1, Pablo Olavide (Seville), ULB (Brussels), Kathmandu (Nepal), Van Lan (HCV, Vietnam), Universidad Externado (Bogota, Bolivia), Naresuen (Thailand), Shanghai (China), Universidade Federal do Minas Gerais (Brazil), Alma Mater (Bologna).
• GDRI Coral Reefs / Labex Corail :
         - GIS HOMmer, Institut Pasteur
         - LABEX DRIIHM: OHM (Vicdessos, Oyapock)
         - Equipex GEOSUD, MSH Aquitaine
         - North Labs :
           CIRAD-GREEN, LADYSS, LAREP, CITERES, COREUS, GRED, Mosaics LAVUE, GEODE, CERTOP, LETG (Labex Mer), PALOC, UMR GRET, INRA UMR MISTEA, UM1 UMR LAMETA....
         - Labs South :
           Tunisia: ESOR-IRA (Tunisia), CRRAO, ISA Sousse
           Morocco: Univ AGADIR, NRCS (Social Sciences), CNRST
         - Madagascar : Univ. Antanarivo and Fianaransou
         - Brazil: Univ. Brasilia, UFRA - Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia, UFPA - Universidade Federal do Pará, EMBRAPA
         - Asia: School of Arts / Kathmandu university (Nepal)
• RMG, Geo-system, AlterID, Acts
• International online journal Via@
• Setting up a social science platform at the IRD centre in Noumea, bringing together research institutes and private partners

Further information

Skills and know-how

• The unit is placed in a perspective of sustainable development of territories in general and more particularly in tropical environments.
• Three areas of expertise:
• Spatial Environmental Observation (SEO) ;
• Integrated Approach to Environments and Societies (AIMS) ;
• Modelling, Knowledge Engineering and Geospatial Data Analysis (MICADO).

Specific equipment

Montpellier site: MTD equipment, trainee/doctoral student rooms, meeting rooms (with videoconferencing).