[Thesis defence] 19/12/2025 – Michel Mouléry: «Analysis of interactions between short supply chains and morphological complexity of urban boundaries: application to fruit and vegetables in Provence (France)» (UMR ESPACE)

Mr Michel MOULÉRY will publicly defend his thesis entitled «Analysis of interactions between short supply chains and morphological complexity of urban boundaries: application to fruit and vegetables in Provence (France)", supervised by Mr Didier JOSSELIN, on Friday 19 December.

Laboratory

UMR 7300 ESPACE - Study of Structures, Adaptation Processes and Changes in Space

Composition of the jury

Mr Didier JOSSELIN	Avignon University	Thesis supervisor
Mr. Francois PINET	INRAE TSCF	Rapporteur
Ms Julie Ruiz	University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières	Rapporteur
Mr Claude NAPOLéONE	INRAE Eco-development	Thesis co-director
Ms. Laurence DELATTRE	University of Lille – LEM UMR 9221	Examiner
Ms Esther SANZ-SANZ	INRAE Eco-development	Thesis co-supervisor
Mr Rodolphe DEVILLERS	IRD SPACE-DEV	Examiner

Summary

Supervised by: Didier Josselin (Research Director, CNRS, Avignon University, UMR 7300 ESPACE), Claude Napoléone (Research Engineer, INRAE Ecodeveloppement – Avignon) and Esther Sanz-Sanz (Research Fellow, INRAE Ecodeveloppement – Avignon). The aim of this thesis is to characterise and analyse the functional relationship between agricultural space and towns at the sub-municipal level, taking into account the issue of local supply, in order to provide support for public decision-making. To express this relationship between towns, agriculture and local supply, the thesis is based on two hypotheses. The first is that an urban boundary with irregular contours generates more contact with (local) agriculture, based on the concept of roughness [1]. The second is that the methodological tools available for drawing urban boundaries do not allow the influence of the city on agriculture to be measured. The aim of the thesis is to develop methodological options for characterising and mapping 1) the roughness of city boundaries (in the sense of the boundary between local agriculture and urbanisation) and 2) analysing farms oriented towards local markets, drawing on the theory of proximity [2]. The last part of the thesis is devoted to analysing the relationship between the roughness of the city boundary and local agriculture, based on a selection of cities in the Bouches-du-Rhône and Vaucluse regions whose production is focused on fruit and vegetables. [1] Brinkley, C. (2019). Cities as Coral Reefs: Using Rugosity to Measure Metabolism across the Urban Interface. Ann. Am. Assoc. Geogr. doi:10.1080/24694452.2019.1573133 [2] Alain Rallet & André Torre, 2004. »Proximity and location,» Rural Economy, Persée National Programme, vol. 280(1), pages 25-41.

Keywords : Urban and agricultural spatial signature, roughness, landscape ecology, local circuit, city, agriculture