The research presented here draws on both work carried out in the 1990s and new data updated by the latest census, in an attempt to analyze the diversity of socio-demographic trajectories on the Ponant islands. The aim is to understand the driving forces behind the upheavals in these territories, studied by Françoise Péron [1993, 2005] and Louis Brigand [1983, 2002], as a result of the socio-demographic transformations and ways of living that have taken place since then. Coastal areas, and islands in particular, have seen their populations change dramatically in recent decades: strong attractiveness, new seasonal patterns, intermittent living, spatial competition between activities, new demographic (dis)balances, as well as challenges linked to access to housing, social and inter-generational diversity, and so on. These are all factors that are upsetting territorial balances and reshaping island societies, as reflected in the emergence of residents' collectives and mobilizations committed to maintaining island populations in these territories under pressure.

The research presented here draws on both work carried out in the 1990s and new data updated by the latest census, in an attempt to analyze the diversity of socio-demographic trajectories on the Ponant islands. The aim is to understand the driving forces behind the upheavals in these territories, studied by Françoise Péron [1993, 2005] and Louis Brigand [1983, 2002], as a result of the socio-demographic transformations and ways of living that have taken place since then. Coastal areas, and islands in particular, have seen their populations change dramatically in recent decades: strong attractiveness, new seasonal patterns, intermittent living, spatial competition between activities, new demographic (dis)balances, as well as challenges linked to access to housing, social and inter-generational diversity, and so on. These are all factors that are upsetting territorial balances and reshaping island societies, as reflected in the emergence of residents' collectives and mobilizations committed to maintaining island populations in these territories under pressure.