Planning conflicts and social proximity: a reassessment

The term "proximity" has long been absent from the geographical vocabulary. This term is currently re-emerging among researchers in social geography who are questioning the relationship between spatial and social proximity. This paper analyses how a conflict linked to a planning project can generate social proximity, notably by evaluating the conditions in which spatial proximity can bring together the participants opposed to the project. This analysis aims at re-assessing the correlation between social and spatial proximities. It gives evidence that, when the conflict occurs, it generates social proximity between the individuals sharing a common aim and that spatial proximity participates in the process as a necessary condition, but not sufficient enough, for its development