Thesis supervisors: Valérie November and Nacima Baron
Abandoned luggage is a long-standing problem in the fields of transport production and in the management models of complex socio-systems such as metropolitan train stations. The issue is attracting increasing attention from managers and institutions alike, as the number of so-called "abandoned" items (unclaimed or not returned to their owners within 20 minutes) has risen by more than 50% between 2020 and 2022, leading the SNCF to develop two complementary strategies:
– On the one hand, a policy of providing enhanced support to passengers, through staff and digital tools (messages in stations, SMS campaigns, CCTV surveillance, baggage tracking using QR codes or geolocation). This approach is part of the station manager's desire to deploy "benevolent surveillance" that encourages vigilant individual behavior and interactions that prevent potentially disruptive behavior.
– On the other hand, to remove any doubt about luggage not returned to its owner, a regulatory protocol (January 2020) has been implemented that is both very strict and very disruptive to business continuity (security perimeter extended to 200 m and evacuation of the premises). Abandoned objects can be considered as "grains of sand" that hinder the railway system and systematically weaken all other peripheral activities in railway complexes.
This dual response, both preventive and curative, involves decisions and experiments in the technological, organizational, and institutional fields, as well as in the area of the relationship between the company and its customers. The thesis therefore questions the continuum of practices and responsibilities that are assembled and negotiated around these abandoned objects in the fields of reception and information, flow management, security, and commercial services.
The thesis is positioned at the intersection of the field of sociotechnical analysis of risks and crises (LATTS) and the field of logistics and digital mobility services in stations (LVMT). It is part of the material turn in social sciences and examines the object according to the practices, relationships, and spatialities it engages with a subject and, more broadly, with networked actors. The empirical work will therefore reveal the still largely invisible links between, on the one hand, surveillance, often considered overbearing and panoptic, and the relationship of benevolence, partnership, and mediation by humans and machines. It will compare, if not contrast, the organizational and institutional changes brought about by the transcription and translation of the security protocol within the highly constrained framework of station management, in the confrontation of sometimes rival professional cultures and identities. The aim of the thesis is to show what this neglected subject teaches us about the interconnection between the processes of digitization, security, and value creation at work in transport hubs, in a context of profound institutional reforms (opening up to competition) and increasing risks and uncertainties.
Year of enrollment: 2022
Doctoral school: City, Transportation, and Territories (VTT)