L’espace du réseau : du flux au territoire. Le tournant pragmatiste engagé par Isaac Joseph

Abstract

In the nineteen-eighties, research in social sciences has progressively freed itself from dominant theoretical paradigms (above all structuralism) to focus on agents, their experiences and the situations in which they interact. This paper aims to show the theoretical and empirical scope of the “pragmatist turn” through an analysis of the works of one of its leading figures, Isaac Joseph. In the field of urban public transport, his pragmatist conception of local networks as a form of public space enabled him to play a major part in a process begun in the late 1970’s: the humanizing of a network first conceived as a system regulating a flow. We argue that Joseph’s views are still actual today and deserve to be further developed.

Keywords

• interactionism
• public space
• urban public transport
• territoriality
• accessibility