Urban narrative and peasant imaginaries in French hybrid territories: a perspective from the Vendée Bocage

In recent years, France has witnessed a renewed interest within urban studies in inhabited territories that are characterised by a hybridisation of urban and rural features. This interest has emerged in the face of new challenges linked to the agroecological transition process and the rise of new forms of peasant agriculture. This contribution brings together some reflections developed in the context of long-term research on the Vendée Bocage region in France, a territory historically characterised by urban-rural hybridisation rooted in agrarian logics. It focuses on analysing the urban narrative promoted by the recent planning regulatory framework, highlighting certain limits and countertrends linked to the living desires and imaginaries of a community of peasants associated with three local alternative food networks. Starting from these reflections, the contribution outlines some possible paths for the renewal of urbanism while embracing an agrarian perspective.