Votre recherche
Résultats 6 ressources
-
This doctoral thesis aims to study the construction, both physically and symbolically, of newly established and relocated capital cities in Brazil, Canada, and Kazakhstan from the mid-nineteenth century up until the late twentieth century. The research adopts a comparative approach that is informed by perspectives from cultural and political history, the history of architecture, and urban planning. The investigation is grounded in what this thesis claims to be the three sine qua non phases of construction in contemporary capital cities: (a) legislative and executive activities geared toward choosing new sites of government; (b) the adoption of architectural and planning designs for governmental buildings or districts which seek to represent the State in these new sites of government; and (c) inauguration ceremonies for the newly-appointed capital cities in the form of large state-sponsored events, designed to promote the new loci of political power. The exploration of these three historical aspects not only enables one to efficiently grasp the difference between capital cities and other types of cities but also provides an advantageous angle from which to explore the link between statehood and cityhood, as these interact and co-construct each other within the space of contemporary capital cities. Through an analysis of the three phases in three capital cities I propose to rethink the intellectual and political projects of elites and individuals who were involved in the process of each capital’s elaboration, in order to understand how their aspirations and political projects were translated into the material reality of the cities that would be defined as ‘capitals.’ Previous studies essentially regarded capital cities as a by-product of the development of nation-states or empires, taken as separate and unrelated cases, or explored the symbolic meaning of capital cities through a study of their geographical, architectural, and planning arrangements. This thesis strives to demonstrate that the emergence of at least three contemporary capital cities was due to complex and entangled relationships between former empires and current nation-states, for these were also based on the ongoing exclusion of those groups of people who did not fit easily within the official representations of national identity which the ruling elites were attempting to forge.
-
This thesis explores the different ways in which territory has historically been perceived, conceived and practiced through the experience and growth of mobility. It shows the crucial role that "automobility" played for touristic development in Quebec and Ontario and the ways it shaped parts of their territory. The present study examines the different measures adopted to promote tourism in newly developed regions and to both physically and symbolically transform these regions between 1920 and 1967. The thesis answers the following question: how and in which way has automobility transformed and created tourist regions? The period under study opens with the beginning of government intervention in the tourism industry through the creation of automobile-related infrastructure. The thesis carries its examination through the celebrations organised around the 100th anniversary of Canada and Expo 67 in Montreal, an event which led to large-scale territorial development necessary to accommodate an unprecedented number of automobiles from across Canada and the United States. This thesis first reconstitutes the processes involved in the creation of tourist regions: the conception, construction and promotion of the highway system; the implementation of itineraries and tourist routes; and the creation of useful tools that tourists might bring on their journey. It next examines beautification as a structuring element within the transformation of territories. Finally, advertising, travelogues and tourism practices are studied in detail in order to identify the mechanisms through which various actors contributed to fashioning representations of territories. This thesis reveals the close and complex ties that bound automobility, tourism and territorial modification as they developed during the 1920s. It helps to shed light on the historicity of certain approaches and orientations that remain current in the Canadian tourism industry, such as territorial development in terms of car accessibility. By showing the role that automobility played within the tourist experience, the present study adds to the developing understanding of the democratization of leisure. Often explained through higher standards of living as well as through the rise of leisure time and the spread within the working world of paid vacation, this democratization can also be explained through the greater accessibility of automobility, which, in turn, provided greater access to regions located further and further from urban areas. The recreational dimension of automobiling that was put forward early on in its history explains its rapid adoption by Canadians and other North Americans, as well as the dependence on cars that progressively spread through a large portion of the population.
-
Cette thèse est une étude d’histoire environnementale des milieux urbains de Montréal, Toulouse, Marseille et Toronto entre les années 1910 et 1980. La période couverte a été choisie car correspondant à deux temps d’augmentation des parcs automobiles canadiens et français : les années d’entre-deux-guerres et les Trente Glorieuses. L’objet central de ce travail sont les interactions entre les sociétés des quatre villes étudiées et les nuisances générées par la présence automobile au sein des quartiers centraux et anciens. Plus précisément, l’analyse a porté sur l’appréhension de ces différents phénomènes par les sociétés des quatre villes, c’est-à-dire la façon dont ils ont été décrits, dénoncés, perçus, par les populations, mais aussi gérés par les administrations. Le travail a par ailleurs été concentré sur les échelles locales, et les administrations publiques municipales dans une optique d’analyse par le bas. L’intervention des niveaux de gouvernement supérieurs (États, provinces, régions) n’a été abordée que de façon ponctuelle, lorsqu’elle était pertinente pour expliquer des situations locales. Enfin cette étude a également été menée dans une optique de comparaison internationale. En tant qu’étude d’histoire environnementale, on s’est attaché à travailler sur la mutation matérielle et physique des environnements urbains. Les mutations couvertes sont autant celles provoquées par la multiplication des nuisances elles-mêmes que celles entrainées par l’adaptation des milieux urbains à la présence automobile. Le travail de comparaison engagé ici permet également de saisir l’importance des échanges internationaux au sujet des nuisances automobiles pendant la période couverte. L’histoire de leur appréhension par les sociétés s’est révélé être une histoire connectée. Enfin, on tâche de mettre en lumière toute l’ambivalence du rapport des sociétés étudiées à la présence automobile tout au long de la période couverte. Sans qu’elles aient suffit à générer un rejet de la présence automobile en ville, les nuisances ont été centrales dans l’histoire de la motorisation des espaces centraux et anciens des villes occidentales.