How can the work activity point of view inform territorial development projects?

BACKGROUND: The heuristic potential of work activity-focused territory analyses has yet to be explored in depth. Instead of viewing territories as a product of their actors, the prevailing approaches rely on statistical indicators to view them "from above".

OBJECTIVE: To understand how work activity acts upon a territory and transforms it and discuss what the main indicators used to characterize territories reveal and conceal.

METHODS: Case studies led on two territories, each in a different industry. One on transportation in a sparsely populated "low density" area; the other in an industrial district, focusing on its "high activity rate" cork industry. In the first case, work activity analyses were led with drivers and mobility designers, including systematic observations and interviews, in the context of an endeavour to redesign a local transport network. In the second case, work activity analyses led among cork stopper choosers were followed with an integrative literature review of indicators about the cork industry and its health impacts.

RESULTS: This territory analysis highlights: (i) traces of bus drivers' work activity on the mitigation of inequalities in access to public transportation; (ii) "absent indicators" regarding cork choosers' work activity and its health impacts, stressing the existence of a development agenda for this territory focused on cork processing rather than on those who perform it.

CONCLUSION: Our analysis of territorialization processes through the lens of work activity signposts a path for research-action seeking to associate territorial development with improvements in the working conditions of citizen workers.