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This research represents a discursive-comparative analysis aiming to understand the current urban neoliberal condition in the Arab world in terms of the circulating patterns of urban transformation. The research introduces and suggests a discursive framework in which various neoliberal projects could be examined and evaluated against one or more of the following indicators: urban lifestyle, emancipatory neoliberal discourse, claims to social sustainability, socio-spatial politics and dynamics, governance and place management, changing role of the state, and circulation of neoliberal practices. The research applies and benefits from a reconciliation between neo-Marxist theories of political economy and poststructuralist approaches related to the art of governance. However, in doing so it relies mostly on one body of theory, namely, neo-Marxist theories considering neoliberalism as a class project of social exclusion. The framework of analysis is applied to the following three case studies in Amman: high-end business towers, gated upper-middle class communities, and low-income housing projects. In general, these projects, despite their emancipatory rhetoric, led to geographies of inequality and urban disparities within the city of Amman.

Keywords: Courant urbain néolibéral, politiques socio-spatiales, durabilité sociale, gouvernance urbaine, villes arabes, Amman, Urban neoliberal condition, socio-spatial politics, social sustainability, urban governance, Arab cities, Amman

In southern countries, urban agriculture is often criticized because of its polluting practices due, to a large part, to the non-standard use of pesticides on market garden sites. The relationships between the actors involved in the design and implementation of public policies constitute one of the causality registers of these practices. This article aims to list and describe the actors structuring the uses of pesticides in urban agriculture in Benin, as well as their interactions. The methodological device is an ethnographic type based on the review of texts relating to pesticides, in-depth interviews, and direct observations on market garden sites in Benin's three main urban areas: Cotonou, Porto-Novo and Parakou. In total, 55 actors from different profiles were surveyed. Several categories of people are involved in market gardening sites. Faced with logics involved (both divergent and contradictory), the "social life" of the pesticide escapes the control of public institutions. The knowledge of producers and sellers prevails over official recommendations. Likewise, the institutional vacuum created by public sector agents is filled by some specific actors, the "distributor-framers". In addition, intergenerational conflicts between producers, aroused by political intrigue, are recurrent in access to available material and financial resources. Such situations weaken the sector of the market garden and interfere negatively in the implementation of public policies relating to pesticides.

Keywords: maraichage, pesticide, acteur, logiques, conflits, ville, Bénin, market gardening, pesticide, actor, logics, conflicts, city, Benin

This article discusses the issue of the new informality in Brazil and provides input to the debate on the new social identities developed in this context. Empirically, our breakdown focuses on : a) informal work in the clothing sector (garment and shoe) ; b) itinerant trade, also called “transnational' trade, made up of people involved in the sale of cheap “global” goods, who purchase merchandise abroad and resell them in Brazilian cities. The research carried out between 2011 and 2014 consists in exploratory visits of production and marketing sites, observations of work and interviews with workers, in addition to secondary data obtained from public and private institutions.

Keywords: informalité, travail précaire, vendeurs de rue, travailleurs de l'habillement, entrepreneuriat, informality, precarious employment, street vendors, clothing workers, entrepreneurship, informalidad , trabajo precario, vendedores callejeros, trabajadores del vestuario, espíritu empresarial

The state has played a decisive role in the modernization cum urbanization of Brazil since 1850. Three examples of state intervention are described in some detail: the state guarantees of the paulista railway network, which integrated several regional economic complexes; the foundation of the regional capital, Belo Horizonte, which allowed a leading faction of the elite to expand its control; the building and organization of Brasilia, whereby the state redirected internal migration and regional occupation.

Between 1965 and 1972 the provincial government of British Columbia introduced a new resource towns policy aimed at changing the relationship between corporations, the provincial government, and resource based settlements. The Instant Towns Act, together with the creation of new municipalities, represented a new level of government involvement and intervention in resource towns. The policy served to pass townsite costs from the companies to the workforce and to rationalise the further involvement of the state in resource extraction activities. The provincial government and the companies argued that a new settlements policy was necessary to replace the older model of company towns in order to attract a new and more stable labour force. At the same time as this policy was being shaped, the government was also engaged in developing industrial infrastructure to facilitate the expansion and the changing needs of capital. The Instant Towns Act of 1965 was part of the legislation for the expansion of large firms in the resource extraction sector. This form of infrastructure planning, to coincide with the changing structure of capital, reflects a level of state intervention in the economy of British Columbia, in other Canadian provinces, and indeed in most other western capitalist societies in recent years.

Jalāleddin Mohammad Rumi is a 13th century Persian mystical (Sufi) poet and thinker, among the most renowned in the West. His fame is due both to the immense size of his poetry work, which comprises Masnavi-e ma'navi and Divān-e Šams e Tabrizi, and a relatively recent popular demand in English-speaking North America for his spiritually inspiring poetry. Translating Rumi cannot be devoid of political implications given the topical character of transcultural relations between Western societies and the Islamic world as well as the complexity of Rumi's eclectic thought, subject to controversy within the orthodox paradigm of Islam. As a result, multiple examples can be cited of the interference between political, ideological, and poetic instances in the process of transferring Rumi's message into European languages. This article shows how ideology interferes with the operation of translation in light of ethical, sociolinguistic and hermeneutic theories of translation, and presents some notable occurrences of this intervention. Among the cases examined are suspicions of antisemitism arising from the English translation of an allegorical story of Masnavi, the intervention of some political institutions to annex the Persian thinker to the Turkish culture, and the Islamising tendencies of certain translators and specialists of Rumi who attempt, through their commentaries, to associate the author's universal thought with the central doctrine of Islam.

Keywords: déformation, islamisation, herméneutique, poésie soufie, polysystème, deformation, Islamization, hermeneutics, polysystem, Sufi poetry

This article is both an empirical inquiry and a theoretical declaration. It stresses, in opposition to a view of urban history that presents fairly distinct periods, that there are very important elements of continuity. Indeed, continuity may be the essence of the urban experience in Canada, especially across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The layout of the city, the vital promotional actions of the civic elite, a concentration of wealth, and the spatial expression of economic and social traits all have deep roots — extending to the earliest decades in the case of Hamilton, which is the site for this study.In terms of source materials, this article employs an 1839 assessment manuscript, but warns that such material can be abused or misunderstood. Indeed, it raises questions about American studies that have attempted comparisons of concentrations of property wealth over time. The article argues that a vital ingredient of wealth and power was and is the intangible factor of access to credit. That access is a feature of metropolitanism, an historiographic theme which too indicates continuity in the history of urban Canada.

Population growth and urban development in the South renew research topics on agriculture. Advantageous in some respects, urban agriculture entails many risks, especially those related to the quality of irrigation water and to urban farmers'practices. The article illustrates the case of Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, where watercress, which is highly appreciated by the consumers, had a growing development in the lowland of the city. This activity creates high income and can be practiced all around the year. However, health risks associated with its conditions of production are numerous : use of waste water and urban effluents, questionable practices of some farmers and traders. A multidisciplinary research program has studied this situation. A survey on consumption showed that methods used by households from Antananarivo for watercress preparation are suitable. Furthermore, microbiological analyses of the product at the production level and in households are reassuring. However, some issues remain unresolved. A qualitative survey reveals a duality in the image of the product : consumers are indeed shared between, firstly, their good appreciation of organoleptic and nutritional qualities of watercress and, secondly, their fear of disease related to the conditions of production they witness. The problem of safety is real because of the subjectivity of consumers that could, at worst, turn away from this product, at best, ask questions about the quality of their diet.

Keywords: Antananarivo, Madagascar, agriculture urbaine, cresson, irrigation, sécurité sanitaire des aliments, Antananarivo, Madagascar, urban agriculture, watercress, irrigation, food safety

Based on the theoretical framework of negotiated culture, the present investigation puts the focus on the importance of regional linguistic cultures for the construction of working cultures. Carried out in Swiss subsidiaries of a French multinational corporation (MNC), the case study provides insight into different kinds of challenges and issues linked to language. Language is often considered a sign of cultural proximity and a facilitator for the transfer of management practices in the MNC. Yet, in a French-Swiss context, language appears to be at the heart of a set of power capabilities that are linked to resources, processes and significations.

Keywords: Culture négociée, Culture régionale, Culture nationale, Culture organisationnelle, Langue, Entreprise multinationale, Suisse, Negotiated culture, regional culture, national culture, organisational culture, language, multinational corporation, Switzerland, Cultura negociada, Cultura regional, Cultura national, Cultura institucional, Idioma, Empresa multinacional, Suiza