At a time when the coasts in France are subject to pressures of all kinds (anthropogenic as natural) this article aims to offer a panorama of research in human geography in French on the French coast. These researches are approached through a historic and themathic entry. The aim here is to highlight the fact that research in human geography on coastlines in France is closely linked to the more general evolution of human geography in France and that it developed from a series of thematic entries on which we let’s come back here. But that, paradoxically, the entry through social geography as a study of the spatial dimension of social relations, and in particular questions of segregation and relations of domination, remains relatively undeveloped. Through this panorama the objective is also to show the interest of thinking about the future a social geography of coastal spaces, while so far the work on these very specific spaces are little considered through the spatial dimension of social relations.

At a time when the coasts in France are subject to pressures of all kinds (anthropogenic as natural) this article aims to offer a panorama of research in human geography in French on the French coast. These researches are approached through a historic and themathic entry. The aim here is to highlight the fact that research in human geography on coastlines in France is closely linked to the more general evolution of human geography in France and that it developed from a series of thematic entries on which we let’s come back here. But that, paradoxically, the entry through social geography as a study of the spatial dimension of social relations, and in particular questions of segregation and relations of domination, remains relatively undeveloped. Through this panorama the objective is also to show the interest of thinking about the future a social geography of coastal spaces, while so far the work on these very specific spaces are little considered through the spatial dimension of social relations.