[1] She studied geography at the École Normale Supérieure between 1965 and 1969 and received her doctorate in human sciences and literature in 1980.

[2] She began teaching at the Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University in 1970.

[2] She also held the post of rector at the Académie de Grenoble between 2000 and 2001.

[2] She was awarded with a CNRS Bronze medal in 1984, decorated as a Chevalier of the Order of the Légion d'honneur in 1999 and decorated as an officer of the National Order of Merit in 2009.

[3] In 2010, she won the Vautrin Lud Prize and also received an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council to research different urban dynamics in cities across the world.