Gilles Maignant

Reflections on Optimisation in Geography: Envisaging "Geography for the Better" Gilles Maignant

As soon as we have to make a choice or take a decision, the optimisation concept becomes major. Stemming from the operational research, the optimisation was little approached in geography, probably because the relations between human and nature are complex. So the optimisation in geography is the result of the study of this concept in various sciences. Some geographers' works have already studied the optimisation but it is in a quite other perspective. The optimisation concept is envisaged in this book through a new paradigm which is "Geography for the better". This paradigm has as a purpose the transfer of a theory, an outcome of the hard sciences, in order to improve the quality of life, the health of the populations, their well being and their way to live in a territory. In other words, "Geography for the better" studies the maximization of factors generating the sustainable development.