Researchers, planners, politicians and journalists wonder about the possibilities of evaluating the international attractivity of European cities. Fashion effects or important issues in this end-of-century, the comparison, the ranking of cities have frequently been written about and have been the object of debate. Beyond the publicised aspect, what answers can be given to determine the international role of European cities? The volumes, the intensity and the degree of concentration of international air traffic, the degree of international air opening and the number of international air routes are the five measures proposed for the evaluation of the international role of 90 large European cities. It is, however, a more complex indicator 'the differential attractivity' that gives the most relevant image of the internationalisation of cities. The research of explanatory factors of the differential attractivity variation allows us to demonstrate that the European urban network remains largely dependent on national urban system configurations.

Urban nighttime entertainment spaces, including bars, pubs and clubs, are a crucial space for the performance of gendered social relations and the experience of sexual identities. This article investigates the emotional spaces of commercial gay and lesbian recreation in two different settings: lesbian nights in Paris, France, and gay clubs in Turin, Italy. This research was carried out through direct observation and autoethnographic fieldwork. Drawing on the literature from emotional geographies, the article proposes an alternative take on the geography of gay and lesbian clubbing by applying the metaphors of the island and the archipelago from cultural geography to the gay and lesbian scene. The island and archipelago are presented as metaphors that imply emotions, performance, materiality, spatiality, strategy and imagination in the performance of the gay and lesbian playscape. The article argues that the club, intended as a type of gay and lesbian island, does not necessarily imply a condition of insulation.Rather, the island implies both metaphor and materiality, and movement may also be considered an emotional strategy for gays and lesbians in the heteronormative urban space.

Résumé Cet article étudie la dynamique de l’organisation de l’espace mondial par les échanges aériens internationaux de passagers durant les deux dernières décennies. Grâce à leur capacité relativement rapide à s’ajuster à l’offre et à la demande, les réseaux aériens sont des marqueurs incontournables de la mondialisation. En plaçant ce travail dans une logique relationnelle des territoires, l’objectif est d’appréhender l’espace mondial en terme d’articulations et d’interdépendances afin de mettre en évidence les différentes modalités de son intégration spatiale. Cette étude tente de dépasser certaines images trop statiques du monde qui le réduise à une hiérarchie de pôles où seuls les processus de production des richesses sont comptabilisés. Des pistes de recherches sont également proposées pour modifier les représentations tronquées mais communément véhiculées de l’espace mondial. L’ouverture se fait en direction notamment d’une intégration dans la réflexion des lieux et des liens de l’hémisphère Sud souvent invisibles dans la plupart des analyses du système mondial.

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