Proximities: return over 25 years of analysis

After 25 years of research, we ask the question of the sustainability of the proximity approach, and of its recognition and its renewal capacity in the world of regional sciences, considering its impact on various disciplines of social sciences. This article aims to make an overview over 25 years of analyses, to shed light on the reasons of the success of the research program, and to make an assessment of its outputs but also its failures. We come back to the scientific pathway, its avenues and main bifurcations. We start with the main theoretical, societal and academic stakes at the birth of the Proximity School (I), before presenting the main analytical results, with their limits and their surprises (II). Then we assess about the final gains in academic and societal terms (III), to approach finally the dead angles of the research program and the work still remaining (IV). We conclude by some questioning on the future of the proximity analysis and its capacity to be renewed in an environment subjected to profound transformation, be there in the real world or in the world of ideas.