Emotional mapping: towards a geographical explanation of drug use

The article highlights how place plays an important role in explaining drug consumption. Within a perspective rooted in critical cartography and social geography, we propose emotional mapping as a method of conceiving urban lived spaces of drug users in European cities. The method provides insights in the spatial experiences and emotions regarding urban space. Our geographical explanation relies on two concepts from social geography. At a macro scale, structural phenomenon of socio-spatial exclusion in European metropolis explain how neoliberal urban policies produce spatial eviction. At a micro scale, personal emotional appropriation of urban places explains individual patterns of drug use. The data presented in this paper is part of an ongoing research process within the DRUSEC (Drug Use and Urban Security) research consortium.L'usage d'alcool et de drogues illicites dans les espaces publics et nocturnes. Enjeux et suggestions de solution pour les municipalité