Socioéconomie

Résumé

La socioéconomie ou socio-économie est un mélange des sciences économiques et de la sociologie. Elle vise à intégrer les outils des sciences économiques avec ceux de la sociologie afin d'examiner l'évolution économique des sociétés. Devant les apories de l'économie néoclassique à expliquer certaines caractéristiques des comportements humains ou des institutions, Amitai Etzioni écrivait en 1986 : . La sociologie économique, pour sa part, analyse l'influence des relations sociales concrètes sur la formation des groupes, réseaux et institutions économiques. C'est une science sociale qui s'est détachée comme un domaine d'étude nouveau à la fin du . Origine et description Dans l'épistémè de la modernité, la pratique officielle de la recherche est celle du cloisonnement entre disciplines. Puis, vers le milieu du , est apparue la nécessité de considérer des paires (psychosociologie, biochimie, psycholinguistique, etc.). La mouvance de la recherche socioéconomique a consisté

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The study was performed in the Sahelian part of Burkina Faso. The country is subject to difficult climatic conditions, a strong demographic growth and a continuous decrease in soil fertility. The resulting degradation affects the processes which govern ecological systems and leads, on the long run, to a modification of the ecosystems. This is particularly the case of the eolian formations, the only ecological units susceptible of being useful in the area, since they present good infiltration capacity and support the main part of the vegetation. Field measurements (rainfall, runoff, saturated hydraulic conductivity, bulk density, hydraulic conductivity function, soil water content and pressure head) have been done to asses the impacts of the environmental degradation on the hydrodynamic behavior of these formations. Within this context, an experimental device made of seven measurement sites has been installed in three contrasting zones. The results show significant differences in the hydrodynamic behavior of the soils, according to their surface properties. On one hand, the sites located on an erosion crust as well as on a drying crust in transition towards an erosion crust, are characterized by a low infiltration capacity which favors runoff. The quantity of infiltrated water is very low when compared to total precipitation. Water is stored near the soil surface (in the first 30 cm) favoring evaporation in the days following rainfall events. Thus, little water is available for plants. The resulting water stress causes a weak density, or even complete absence of plants which have difficulties to colonize such surfaces. Surface runoff is favored with runoff coefficients ranging from 50 to 80 %. On the other hand, the sites situated on drying crusts are characterized by good hydraulic conductivity and infiltration capacity. The storage of water in the root zone is more important. Water flows deeper into the soil and, occasionally, drains at the reference depth of 50 cm. The runoff coefficients were found to be lower than in the other sites (30 to 40 %). This differentiated behavior is one of the main factors affecting the formation of different landscapes in the area through the existence of a relationship between soil surface properties, the type of landscape and the ratio runoff/infiltration. The sites located on an erosion crust and those in transition towards an erosion crust behave like impluviums, while those situated on drying crusts are more favorable to infiltration. Observation of the evolution of the hydraulic properties of the soil surface shows a progressive alteration that frequently leads to strongly degraded mediums unfavorable to plants. Control and rehabilitation methods considered in the study, namely "restoration" and "mise en défens" have only partial and time-limited effects; they do not make it possible to stop durably degradation or to favor rehabilitation. Among the other measures assessed on the INERA plots, only the restitution to the soil of the beforehand mown plants causes an improvement of the soil surface properties; the restitution causes the formation of an important macroporal system favoring water infiltration and circulation in the soil. The effects of those different measures occur mainly in the first years after their introduction and concern especially vegetation regeneration, soil protection against degradation factors, improvement of hydrodynamic soil properties, reduction of runoff and erosion. They make it possible to slow down soil degradation, but not to stop it definitively. Within this context, proposals of further studies focussed on other measures to control and rehabilitate degraded areas have been suggested, taking into account the specificity of the sahelian zone, the endogenous knowledge of the agro-pastors, as well as socio-economic and ecological conditions.

EPFL2006

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Socio-economic determinants of sprawl: causes and consequences of urban growth in Swiss municipalities

Barbara Franziska Weilenmann

In Switzerland, as elsewhere, over the past decades, urban areas have spread outwards â consuming the surrounding countryside in the process. The result has been an urban growth associated with negative effects such as the loss of cultivated land. Sprawl is the term often used to describe this process, accentuating the perceived inefficiencies of the undesirable development. A number of hypotheses have been forwarded to explain sprawl, but empirical evidence of factors that influence sprawl per se is limited. The main objective of this thesis it to develop a sound understanding of socio-economic drivers of urban growth and to gain insights into the determinants of spatial patterning of land consumption. Chapter 2 presents a comprehensive overview on socio-economic factors that shaped urban development processes in Swiss municipalities over three decades. In order to grasp urban sprawl, four different measurements of particular forms of urban growth are considered. The study shows that accessibility, increasing wealth or an aging population have all been important determinants in fostering the extension of urbanised area, altering its densification but also stimulating the dispersion of settlements. Population growth, however, seems to have a less straight forward effect on urban growth than received opinion would suggest. Chapter 3 focuses on the relationship between tax and urban growth. Following the theory of Tiebout, the analysis engages in how differences in local tax, impact land consumption. The findings show that a municipalityâs low tax scheme either leads to a reduction of per capita land uptake and growth of the settlement area â densification â or to a growth of the per capita land uptake â urban sprawl. The different outcomes â mitigated by the respective accessibility of the municipality â supports that planning policies should be coordinated with other sector policies such as tax or transport infrastructure policies. Chapter 4 focuses on three subjects: land scarcity, low density settlement structure, and the influence of the inhabitantsâ affluence. The results underline that a limited supply of land for construction reduces the per capita land consumption and the extension of the area, and thus fosters densification. However, in those municipalities accommodating wealthier households, land scarcity has only limited impact on the reduction of land uptake. This might be due to affluent households having an interest in securing a relatively low density structure in their neighbourhoods. This, in turn, raises concerns over equity, and efficiency of policies that limit land for construction. Accordingly, when applying such policies, suitable accompanying measures should be taken. Why is the question of socio-economic determinants of urban growth important? Managing land development in a sustainable way is a challenging task which requires a certain understanding of causes and consequences of urban growth. As shown in this thesis, socioeconomic factors affect land development in expected ways but might also have unexpected effects, depending on circumstances, geographical scale or spillover effects. With such insights, this thesis hopes to further the understanding of those variations, in order to contribute to a sustainable use of land.

EPFL2019

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Impact of climate change in Switzerland on socioeconomic snow indices

Charles Fierz, Michael Lehning

Snow is a key element for many socioeconomic activities in mountainous regions. Due to the sensitivity of the snow cover to variations of temperature and precipitation, major changes caused by climate change are expected to happen. We analyze the evolution of some key snow indices under future climatic conditions. Ten downscaled and postprocessed climate scenarios from the ENSEMBLES database have been used to feed the physics-based snow model SNOWPACK. The projected snow cover has been calculated for 11 stations representing the diverse climates found in Switzerland. For the first time, such a setup is used to reveal changes in frequently applied snow indices and their implications on various socioeconomic sectors. Toward the end of the twenty-first century, a continuous snow cover is likely only guaranteed at high elevations above 2000 m a.s.l., whereas at mid elevations (1000-1700 m a.s.l.), roughly 50 % of all winters might be characterized by an ephemeral snow cover. Low elevations (below 500 m a.s.l.) are projected to experience only 2 days with snowfall per year and show the strongest relative reductions in mean winter snow depth of around 90 %. The range of the mean relative reductions of the snow indices is dominated by uncertainties from different GCM-RCM projections and amounts to approximately 30 %. Despite these uncertainties, all snow indices show a clear decrease in all scenario periods and the relative reductions increase toward lower elevations. These strong reductions can serve as a basis for policy makers in the fields of tourism, ecology, and hydropower.

Springer Verlag2017

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