The Strait of Gibraltar is a major intercontinental and interoceanic route for maritime traffic. Its location places it at the core of various global networks of circulations and mobilities. These intercirculations, integrated in major merchant and human flows which dominate the world, make it an interesting place and create a singular maritime and spatial organization around this oceanic chokepoint. In particular, port infrastructures have rapidly grown and today host the main global carriers. However, the prominence given to the economic development has many perverse effects on the territories bordering the strait. The Strait of Gibraltar is also an external border of the Schengen space on which the challenges of human mobility between Europe and Africa are reinforced. Being characterised as a transit space for people and goods, it is a privileged observatory of globalization and its effects on territories at every scales. The analysis of the spatial dynamics in this transit space is conducted through a multi-scale and multi-thematic approach. Beyond the study of maritime circulations, this PhD thesis presents a reflection on the difficult integration of territories in globalization.
