The EA 1210 CEDETE (Study Center on the Development of Territories and the Environment) is a long-recognized laboratory at the University of Orléans, heir to the CERCAR founded by Dean J. Mirloup. Expertized by the HCERES in April 2017, it has been accredited for a new contract starting January 1, 2018. Located on the Orléans - la Source Campus, it also brings together members of the Bourges IUT. Part of the Pluridisciplinary “Humanities Cultures Societies” thematic cluster of the University of Orléans, the CEDETE is part of the scientific field of humanities and social sciences. Most of its members are geographers, joined in recent years by sociologists and psycho-sociologists.
The CEDETE laboratory is developing a spatialized approach to the sustainable development of territories, and aims to combine environmental and social dynamics in its approaches. The local/territorial sustainable development approach has been enriched by a more specific social and solidarity orientation, thanks to the integration of the former ETTOSS (Ethics, Work and Territories of Social and Solidarity Organizations) emerging team in 2009. As a result, specialists in geography (physical, human, social) and planning are joined by sociologists and psycho-sociologists.
Our research themes
Two main themes are addressed: water territories - limnology, water bodies, lakes and ponds, hydrosystems - considered from the physical, human and social points of view (development, governance) and research into the sustainable development of territories in urban and rural contexts, from city centers to the countryside, articulating concerns linked to the ecological and energy transition, to the enhancement of heritage, natural and cultural resources, to urban/rural development actions (including projects linked to sport and leisure), right through to social and solidarity-based approaches to local development. Research into the social, sustainable and mutually-supportive development of territories has been the result of a fusion of geographers' themes with those of the laboratory's sociologists. Today, the question of sustainable development concerns most researchers in the humanities and social sciences who are committed to describing and understanding today's societies.
But within the vast field of human sciences, the geographer's view of sustainable development is particularly distinctive, as it is approached through the prism of the territory. The territory is an infinitely differentiated interface, rich in multiple issues, where the question of balance between societies and resources arises acutely. In its dual physical and human, environmental and social dimensions, the territory, with its resources but also its finiteness, concentrates all potentialities and fragilities, is subject to all covetousness and conflicts of use between players, records all fragmentations, all crossbreeding and economic, sociological and geopolitical recompositions.
The thematic positioning on sustainable development of territories is studied in different geographical areas (France, Europe, Russia, China, Africa), opening up questions on notions of transitions and emergence. At the same time, the laboratory seeks to respond to local and regional development and planning concerns. With its roots in the Centre Val de Loire region, the laboratory is able to offer decision-support tools for planning and development that meet the challenges of local territories. Geographic reasoning, conducted on several scales of differentiation, organization and territorial dynamics, has never been so essential for providing keys to deciphering this world in transition. Geographers use their own methods and tools, including field surveys, cartography and geomatics, as well as in situ instrumentation, to try and grasp a complex and sometimes elusive object. Close to the hard sciences and engineering, but also deeply rooted in the humanities and social sciences, in turn resolutely empirical or, on the contrary, technical, geography presents itself as a plural science, totally open to a number of disciplines (planning, sociology, psycho-sociology, urban planning...), and always a science of the present.
Our doctoral students
The CEDETE is fully aware of the central role doctoral students play in a “host team”. This is reflected in a number of ways, including efforts to promote the professional integration of young doctoral students (post-docs on contract), collective publications by doctoral students and their participation in positions of responsibility (mandates within the Humanities and Social Sciences Doctors' and Doctoral Students' Association of the University of Orléans (ADDOSHS) or elected doctoral student representatives within the SSTED Doctoral School). The Cedetoriales are a melting pot for doctoral students, providing a concrete link with the students of the CEDETE's masters programs. During these annual doctoriales, a special effort is made to involve young doctoral geography employees in the debate.
Our master's degrees
Two Master's degrees accredited for a new contract in place since September 2019 are backed by the CEDETE. Firstly, the GAED Master's program run by the Geography Department of the University of Orléans has two tracks, one focusing on Geomatics/Limnology/Environment, using a territorial approach (GLET), the other on Sustainable, Local and Solidarity-based Territorial Development (DDLS). The aim is to examine the possibilities and strategies for sustainable territorial planning and development, based on case studies chosen from a wide range of areas, from the former industrialized countries of Europe to emerging and developing countries: Europe (and France), the Russian and Chinese worlds, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
In addition, since September 2019, an AMSVL master's degree has been created within the University's STAPS department, focusing on the Development, Management and Event Enhancement of Sports and Leisure Spaces; it is backed by the CEDETE's planning / project / local / territorial development entries.