Research fields

Migration, vulnerability and environment

The impact of climate in Africa has often been reduced to drought and famine, hiding the more important consequences of climatic conditions for the populations. In Sahel, rain-fed agriculture is the main livelihood. In this context, our project is to analyse the impact of aridity, drought and rainfall seasonality on migration, child mortality and health in Sahelian Africa, over the 1980-2003 period, at the regional, national and local scales.

• running projects : 3
• running PHDs : 4
• terminated projects : 1

Ecosystem Services, land use changes & Participatory Modelling

Research in "Participatory Modelling changes of land use and ecosystem services" is conducted in various areas of study: Belgium, Europe or developing countries (e.g. Philippines), in agricultural or peri-urban areas.

The services provided by ecosystems directly benefit to human societies. Lack of consideration of such services in decision-making process largely explains the loss of biodiversity and the unsustainability of the organizational systems of physical space.

Within our projects, ecosystem services are modeled taking into account the spatial and temporal aspects (e.g. land use changes) using prospective participatory scenarios. Concerned actors and stakeholders are involved in different phases of the project from its implementation to the release of results.

• running projects : 4
• running PHDs : 2

Thematic cartography and planning

Many thematic cartography tools are developed to serve Land Planning matters and clarify the message that maps are giving to the decision makers. Most of the data are demography, housing, rural and urban planning oriented; the research aims to integrate public and private partnership. The Land Cover is derived from Earth satellite imagery, such as Landsat and Spot source. The current applications, at different scales, are presently rooted in the Walloon Region, European Community, and the Philippines.

• terminated projects : 8
• terminated PHDs : 1

Participative Geographical Information System (PGIS)

Participative Geographic Information Systems (PGIS) research is a computer-based cartography research that merges traditional geo-spatial information (contained in a GIS) and sketch Maps from Communities (CM) in order to elaborate a participative management tools for Land Planning. It aims to compose people spatial knowledge in the forms of virtual or physical 2 or 3 dimensional maps used as interactive tools for discussion, information exchange and analysis, and as support in advocacy and decision making.

Geo-referencing and visualizing people perceptions and expectations help communities to engage dialogue with the public and private sectors, and to promote their issues and concerns.

• terminated projects : 6
• terminated PHDs : 2

Landscape analysis and spatial planning

The department of geography has expertise in landscape analysis and spatial planning in several projects in the Walloon Region and the city of Namur in particular.

The department participates for instance to the development of Landscape Atlas of Wallonia (Atlas des Paysages de Wallonie), as well as the implementation of development projects in collaboration with the city of Namur and the Walloon region (e.g. redevelopment of the Citadel of Namur, prospective analyses (Schéma de Structure Communal), etc.)

• terminated projects : 1