Expert in: City planning
FAUVEAUD, Gabriel
Directeur, Professeur agrégé, Chercheur
- Social geography
- Urban geography
- Human geography
- Economic geography
- Development
- Residential dynamics
- Governance
- Political economics
- Power relations
- City planning
- Cities and towns
- Actors
- 2000 A.D. - Present
- Asia
- South-Eastern Asia
- North America
- Bénin (République du)
- Viet Nam
- Myanmar
- Canada (Québec)
My research focuses on contemporary changes in the modes of production of urban spaces, mainly within cities in the Global South. The term "production" should be understood in a broad sense. First, it designates the actors of the urban fabric, such as developers, builders, brokers or architects, as well as their strategies and practices. Second, the term production designates the actors and processes that condition the fabric of urban spaces, such as urban planners, the urban projects, and the set of regulations and laws of the urban planning and managment. Third, the concept of production also refers to the action of the inhabitants and social groups who appropriate urban spaces and projects.
In my research, hilighting the mechanisms of the urban production allows me to better understand the logics of exclusion and marginalization that are attached to it. By studying power relations between actors, strategies for bypassing established norms and legal frameworks, or the economic strategies of the accumulation of capital, I identify and try to explain the inequal access to urban ressources, the power relations between actors and groups, and the mechanisms that are exacerbating socio-spatial inequalities.
My research is at the intersection of many research fields, such as urban studies, political economy or Asian studies. My theretical approaches also draw from human and social geography, political geography, urban planning, and political studies. My current researches focus on land and real estate issues, financialization, and on the impact of planning and development strategies in urban production. I am particularly interested in the effects of these dynamics on local territories and on the local population.
While continuing my work in Cambodia, I also carry out research on Myanmar, mainly in Yangon. I am also involved in research projects in Vietnam and Montreal. Through my fieldwork in South-East Asia, I also look at how political authoritarianism produces specific governance regimes, which determine the different logics of production of the city.
My methodological approaches are mainly qualitative. I favor field researches, observations and interviews with actors and inhabitants. I also mobilize spatial analysis and mapping to better understand the changes of land use patterns, or the evolution settlement processes. While my scales of analysis are mainly local and go through specific case studies, my politico-economic oriented researches are using various scales of analysis (regional, international, trasnational...).