Читать книгу Location-Based Marketing - Gérard Cliquet - Страница 9

Space has long been reduced to a mathematical notion: “a geometric concept, that of an empty environment” (Fischer 1981). Today we talk about social space, and the space treated here is in fact the market. But before coming to this notion, it is important to clearly identify all the variants of this concept of space. We talk a lot about territory, about countries (within a country in the sense of a nation) and about “spatial surface”. A space can be defined both in geographical terms and in relational terms (Duan et al. 2018), or even in historical or political terms (Paquot 2011). We then have a better understanding of the polysemy surrounding the notion of space. Space would be “a place, a reference point, more or less delimited, where something can be located, where an event can occur and where an activity can take place” (Fischer 1981), but to which it would be appropriate, in order to conceptualize it, to associate all the spatial practices of individuals (Lefebvre 2000) thus showing the close relationship between individuals and space (Fischer 1997). However, this relationship is currently undergoing major upheavals due on the one hand to societal changes (Levy 1996; Oliveau 2011) and on the other hand to extremely rapid technological change.

The territory has received several definitions resulting from two different meanings: a first one defines a territory as a place where a population resides, while a second one, more precise and legal, not to say more political, considers the territory as a place where power is exercised that can be justly political or judicial (Paquot 2011).

From these two meanings, definitions will be added that are increasingly out of step with each other. This drift may also explain some misunderstandings, with the State preferring to put forward the second meaning, favoring time over geographical space in order to establish its domination, when the people understand the first one which prefers living space over the time of power. It is then easier to understand why historians and geographers do not necessarily speak the same language when describing territories.

A country is a French administrative category defined by the law of February 4, 1995, on guidance for spatial planning and development (LOADT), known as the Pasqua law, and reinforced by the LOADDT (known as the Voynet law) of June 25, 1999. But it is now prohibited to create new countries (article 51 of law no. 2010-1563 of December 16, 2010, on the reform of local authorities). A country is defined as follows:

A territory that presents a geographical, economic, cultural or social cohesion, on the scale of a living or employment area in order to express the community of economic, cultural and social interests of its members and to allow the study and implementation of development projects.

Although considered as an administrative category, a country is neither a local authority, nor a canton, nor an EPCI (Établissement public de coopération intercommunale) and therefore does not have its own tax system. A large part of France is thus composed of “countries” resulting from contracts concluded between municipalities; this is of particular interest to rural areas.

The spatial surface is in fact a rather vague concept, but it expresses the difficulties resulting from the spatial heterogeneity encountered in certain spaces, due to discontinuities resulting from irregular borders, for example between regions, peninsulas or real inner holes. This heterogeneity can make the valuation of house prices very complex. This idea was applied to define house prices in the Aveiro region of the Ílhavo district (Portugal) (Bhattacharjee et al. 2017).