Position on urban research and innovation

Résumé 0

This document presents the results of the work of the French National Information Point on the City (NIP City). This is a prospective proposal on urban research and innovation in France. It was communicated to the Joint Programming Initiative «Urban Europe» as part of the revision of its Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA). It is based on the analysis of existing documents carried out by a sub-group composed of Gérard Hégron (IFSTTAR) and coordinator of NIP City, Jean-Pierre Lévy (CNRS), Denise Pumain (University Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne), Alain Zarli (CSTB) and Marie-Claude Dalibard (Club Ville Aménagement). It was written by Gérard Hégron and Jean-Pierre Lévy.The overview and the prospective of research work on the city are part of a context of major global changes (climate, environmental, ecological, technological and demographic…). Therefore, the research topics must all, at one level or another, be placed in relation to the energy and ecological transition, whose work of the IPCC has shown both the urgency and the delay of knowledge to act. To achieve this, research is converging on the common use of new paradigms (sustainable, smart, resilient or sober city, among others) whose ability to truly translate contemporary urban changes must be questioned. Many works on urban propose methods combining a radical interdisciplinarity (articulating the humanities and social sciences with those of the environment, engineering and modeling), multi-scale and intersectoral (academic and territorial actors, resident expertise, project managers, etc.). Finally, urban researchers now have at their disposal an exponential production of data, resulting from the use of new techniques, such as micro-sensors. They open up a new field of modelling and numerical simulation work. However, their use raises the question of their real quality and the possibility of treating them in depth to understand the urban dynamics of the individual at the local, regional and global levels. The working group has identified eight priority heuristic themes that could produce innovative work on knowledge of urban processes, while being part of these new approaches: - Urban lifestyles: past and future- The material and immaterial city- Urban metabolism and resilience- Access to the city and its services- Nature in the city,urban biodiversity and ecosystems- Governance and economics of urban systems- Governance of innovation- Population patterns and energy transition