Listening geographies: Landscape, affect and geotechnologies

This paper argues for expanded listening in geography. Expanded listening addresses how bodies of all kinds, human and more-than-human, respond to sound. We show how listening can contribute to research on a wide range of topics, beyond enquiry where sound itself is the primary substantive interest. This is demonstrated through close discussion of what an amplified sonic sensibility can bring to three areas of contemporary geographical interest: geographies of landscape, of affect, and of geotechnologies

"Lost in digitization" : a spatial journey in emergency response and pragmatic legitimacy

International audienceInstitutional and technological changes can conduct organizations to strengthen or defend their pragmatic legitimacy, in particular through digitization. In this vein, some organizations in the emergency sector have triggered massive investments to address their stakeholders' informational needs, thereby defending their pragmatic legitimacy. However, knowledge remains scarce about the practical influence of organizational search for pragmatic legitimacy on operations, especially in emergency settings. Inspired from pragmatist thinking and grounded theory principles, Anouck Adrot and Marie Bia-Figueiredo propose space as an intermediary concept to better understand the materiality of emergency organizations' pursuit for pragmatic legitimacy. They propose a relational frameworks that depicts emergency response as a spatial journey. Composed of six mutually imbricated occupational areas, the proposed framework highlights how Sigma, a firefighting organization, attempted to defend occupational balance in operations. Our contribution is double. First, we highlight how materiality can be reused by practitioners to develop reflexivity about practice and institutions. Second, we outline that a spatial approach to operations can help anticipate potential side effects of transformation, that can endanger pragmatic legitimacy