Michel Lussault

Michel Lussault is a geographer and professor at the University of Lyon (École normale supérieure de Lyon) and a member of their Environment, Cities, and Societies research laboratory (UMR 5600/CNRS/University of Lyon) and the University of Lyon’s LabEX IMU (Intelligence of Urban Worlds Laboratory of Excellence). His research focuses on the importance of urbanization processes. Inspired by Henri Lefebvre, he argues that urbanization cannot be understood solely from a traditional demographic or geographic perspective, nor in terms of a mere urban-rural dichotomy; instead, it must be analyzed as a set of metasocial and historical processes that profoundly transform how we organize our societies and the living conditions of members of these societies. 

Urbanization is a revolution in the order of existence, one that affects all aspects of human life: geographical, biological, historical, economic and social. It causes transformations in lifestyles and even reconfigures cultures, affecting the ability of human beings to tell stories and formulate narratives about their experiences. In his view, urbanization is indeed the crucible in which the contemporary world is forged. At the turn of the 2010s, he observed that global urbanization was both producing spectacularly powerful effects and increasing the vulnerability of human settlements. This observation led to his current reflection on urbanization as a vector of the great Anthropocene acceleration, beginning in the 1950s.

An internationally recognized expert in the field of theoretical geography and urban studies, Michel Lussault has authored over 120 scientific articles and books published in French, English, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese since 1990. A sought-after speaker, he has been invited to numerous international research symposia, and to conferences hosted by universities in France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, the USA and Canada.