Building local nodes in a global sector: Clustering within the aeronautics industry in Montreal

This article analyzes the mechanisms through which metropolitan governance is established in Montreal's aeronautics sector, one of the most important and innovative industries in the region. The article also examines the role of lead firms, socio‐economic actors, and public agencies from a territorial point of view. It is established that on the one hand the existence of a small number of prime producers at the local level facilitates productive linkages among businesses through subcontracting, and on the other hand, the intensive participation of intermediate socio‐economic agencies and organizations ensures a metropolitan anchoring of the sector and creates a strong territorial identity among the players.     

Fixing the territory,a turning point: The paradoxes of the Wichí maps of the Argentine Chaco

Indigenous mapping is a powerful political tool for long-marginalized populations to create visibility and establish land claims. In the case of Argentina, a country that was built on a denial of the presence of Indigenous peoples in the national territory, the emergence of these maps stemming from participatory processes coincided with the recognition of these communities' territorial rights in 1994. However, this mapping of Indigenous territories freezes extremely dynamic and complex socio-spatial realities just as it inflects their representations. In this paper, I reassess the weight and the role that Indigenous cartographic representations play in the evolution of these populations' spatial capital. Paradoxically, they give rise to more contradictions than they clarify. These paradoxes demonstrate the varied relationships different generations maintain with their territory, just as they concern its structure and its cartographic form. Therefore, based on the case of the Wichí of the Argentinian Chaco, this paper contributes to the understanding of contemporary issues of indigeneity by adopting a critical approach to Indigenous cartography. Whereas in Argentina cartographic knowledge is undergoing a process of decolonization, this does not apply to the legal system or to society as a whole.     

Preservation of old‐growth forests: a case study of Big Timber Park,Whistler, BC

This paper explores the concepts of old‐growth forests, preservation and natural disturbance and demonstrates how contemporary biogeographic theory contributes to successful preservation of old‐growth forests. The case study analyzes the composition, structure, age and growth histories of trees in Big Timber Park, Whistler, British Columbia. Composition. The structure of the forest was diverse and tree ages ranged from 122 to 305 years. The densities of large old Douglas‐fir, shade‐tolerant trees and all snags are indicative of old‐growth forests; however, maximum tree diameters and densities of large snags and logs do not meet quantitative criteria for old‐growth forests. The abundance of tree regeneration and understory vegetation are relatively low. We conclude that some aspects of Big Timber Park are transitional between the mature and old‐growth stages of forest development. In the future, fine‐scale canopy gaps caused by tree senescence and interactions among insects, pathogens and wind are expected to dominate stand dynamics. Forest structure will become increasingly complex, exemplifying the dynamic nature of old‐growth forests. To successfully preserve Big Timber Park and La préservation des forêts other old‐growth forests in Canada requires understanding of natural disturbances. Preservation and the criteria and indicators used to measure successful preservation must explicitly include elements of natural change.     

Visions of community and mobility: the community networking movement in the USA

Different visions of community and mobility may influence the ability of community computer network organizations to promote social change. Community networks successfully generate instrumental mobility, the literal movement of information across space, but have difficulty creating successful online spaces that promote communicative mobility, the metaphorical movement of people towards common understandings of a shared situation. Interviews with community networking activists explore the ways that community networks generate instrumental mobility online as well as barriers that community networks face in creating online spaces for communicative mobility. Ironically, given their technological focus, community networks have little difficulty generating communicative mobility in face-to-face situations. Differentiating between instrumental and communicative mobility allows this research to move beyond a simple discussion of the geography of the conduits of communication to consider the geography of communication itself. It therefore contributes a more detailed understanding of the role of electronic communication in social and political change.

Des visions de la communauté et de la mobilité: le mouvement du réseautage communautaire aux États-Unis

Diverses visions de la communauté et de la mobilité peuvent influer sur la disposition des organisations communautaires en réseau informatisé d'agir en faveur du changement social. Les réseaux communautaires parviennent avec succès à engendrer de la mobilité instrumentale qui, au sens propre, réfère au mouvement de l'information à travers l'espace. Ils ont pourtant de la peine à concevoir des espaces en ligne propices à la mobilité communicative qui, au sens figuré, est le mouvement d'individus vers des conceptions communes d'un cadre de vie collectif. Des entrevues auprès de militants en faveur du réseautage communautaire permettent d'étudier, d'une part, les moyens dont disposent les réseaux communautaires pour engendrer de la mobilité instrumentale en ligne et, d'autre part, les obstacles que rencontrent les réseaux communautaires quand à la conception d'espaces en ligne pour la mobilité communicative. Compte tenu de leur accent technologique, il est ironique de constater que les réseaux communautaires ont peu de misère à engendrer de la mobilité communicative à l'intérieur de rapports personnels. En distinguant entre la mobilité instrumentale et communicative, cette recherche permet de dépasser le stade élémentaire de la discussion sur la géographie des canaux de communication et d'examiner la géographie de la communication en elle-même. La recherche présente une conception plus nette du rôle des communications électroniques dans le changement social et politique.

Visiones de comunidad y movilidad: el movimiento de redes comunitarias en los Estados Unidos

Las diferentes visiones de comunidad y movilidad pueden afectar la capacidad de organizaciones de redes comunitarias de ordenadores a promover cambios sociales. Las redes comunitarias generan satisfactoriamente movilidad instrumental, el movimiento literal de información por el espacio, pero tienen dificultad en crear espacios exitosos online que promocionan movilidad comunicativa, el movimiento metafórico de personas hacia un entendimiento común de una situación compartida. Entrevistas con activistas de redes comunitarias exploran las maneras en que las redes comunitarias generan movilidad instrumental online, tanto como las barreras enfrentadas por redes comunitarias al crear espacios online para movilidad comunicativa. Dado su enfoque tecnológico, resulta irónico que las redes comunitarias tengan pocas dificultades en generar movilidad comunicativa en situaciones cara a cara. El diferenciar entre la movilidad instrumental y comunicativa nos permite ir más allá de una simple discusión de la geografía de los conductos de comunicación para considerar la geografía de la misma comunicación. Por lo tanto contribuye a un entendimiento más detallado del papel de las comunicaciones electrónicas en los cambios sociales y políticos.