“Taking a fresh look at our territory”

You teach cosmography at Sciences Po. What does this discipline involve? 

Maxime Blondeau : It’s a very old discipline. In ancient times, there were cosmographers in the Library of Alexandria, such as Claudius Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD. They set out to understand the world around them and the way in which the territory was organised. 

Cosmography is defined as “augmented geography”: it integrates representations of the world and beliefs. It could be summed up in one question: how do we perceive the world, so what do we see and what don’t we see when we observe the territory around us? I think it’s important to bring this discipline back to the fore because, today, our graphic representations of the world are being transformed, through images, videos and data, which, at the same time, is changing our beliefs.  

You rightly believe that, based on cosmography, we need to move towards a new territorial representation… 

Maxime Blondeau : Cosmography, driven by integral thinking, is an exercise in synthesis. It invites us to consider a territory while taking care not to obscure three fundamental dimensions: the biosphere (the living), the geosphere (geography, geology) and the technosphere (our view of technologies, the choices we make to deploy them, their impact on us).  

Why is it essential to change the way we look at the world around us and, in so doing, raise what you call our “territorial awareness”? 

Maxime Blondeau : This means looking at the origins of ecological disruption. As a general rule, a company director or politician does not take a decision with the deliberate intention of “destroying the world”. On the other hand, when decisions are taken, some of the aspects we have just mentioned are not taken into account. 

For example, when an issue concerns soil, it may, in some cases, be dealt with from a geological or land-use angle, but without considering the question of micro-organisms, fauna or groundwater circulation. Another possibility is that issues relating to the biosphere may be included in the discussions, but not those relating to town planning, local town planning schemes or the development of technologies. 

With cosmography, the challenge is to bring all three dimensions together in the decision-making process, so that none of them is overlooked. 

You warn of the destructive effects of mass tourism. Can changes in the way we represent our regions have a positive impact on this issue? 

Maxime Blondeau : Tourism plays an important role in the way we perceive an area. Visitors are asked to “look” at it in a certain way. The way in which tourism is designed and built reflects the vision that we wish to develop for the region. Consequently, changing our relationship with the region means taking action on tourism, which is currently causing a great deal of harm. We need to rethink it, and ensure that visitor flows bring positive things to the region, that they contribute to its regeneration. 

The issue of reinventing tourism is currently being explored in a number of regions. This is the case in Brittany, for example, where experiments are being carried out in this area, particularly in relation to regional planning, cultural identities and the preservation of arts and crafts.