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International audience; This paper discusses the relationship between the garden and the city. It questions in particular to which extent the design and architecture of gardens reflect the evolution of urban development and the policies associated with it. It is based on the case of Montpellier in France, where several flagship gardens illustrate the evolution of the city: a leading university center since the Middle Ages, a city where the royal power asserted following the Wars of Religion, and a city that today wants to be an attractive Euro-Mediterranean metropolis in phase with contemporary urban issues. To these different dimensions of the city correspond particular forms of gardens that witness the multi-faceted relationship between the garden and the city.; Cette communication traite de la relation entre le jardin et la ville. On questionne notamment dans quelle mesure la conception et l'architecture des jardins reflètent l'évolution du développement urbain et les politiques qui y sont associées. Il s'appuie sur le cas de Montpellier en France, où plusieurs jardins phares illustrent l'évolution de la ville : centre universitaire de premier plan depuis le Moyen Âge, ville où le pouvoir royal s'est affirmé à la suite des guerres de religion, et ville qui se veut aujourd'hui une métropole euro-méditerranéenne attractive en phase avec les enjeux urbains contemporains. À ces différentes dimensions de la ville correspondent des formes particulières de jardins qui témoignent de la relation multiforme entre le jardin et la ville.

In the face of the ever-evolving and emerging urban, environmental and socioeconom-ic transformations of Africa cities, a growing body of literature advocates for new at-titudes towards urban planning theory and practices. Within this frame, place-based approaches are a recurring trope vested with the bivalent capacity to challenge the preconceptions of African urbanity inherited from colonial-era and Western modernist thought, and to bring out alternative knowledge grounded in the concrete reality of African cities. However, this notion has multiple and oft-diverging meanings, poten-tially nullifying its conceptual and operational validity. This introductory essay puts forward five place-based specifics based on an extensive literature review and against which the contributions collected in this book are tested: (1) the shifting meaning of place from a changeless physical entity to a dynamic social-cultural one, (2) the added value of including local to expert knowledge into multiple knowledge systems, (3) the collaborative or non-collaborative nature of place-based practices and the range of tools and methods for implementing them, (4) democratisation and empowerment ob-jectives in place-based approaches and (5) the role of institutions in establishing place-based initiatives in the long term. As a result, while reinstating the relevance of contextuality in urban planning and design for African cities, this essay calls into question some undesirable aspects of place-based approaches: the limitations of case study-based empiricism, romanticising informal and bottom-up initiatives, and justify-ing the historical retreat of institutionalised public action from responsibility for steer-ing urban change.In the face of the ever-evolving and emerging urban, environmental and socioeconom-ic transformations of Africa cities, a growing body of literature advocates for new at-titudes towards urban planning theory and practices. Within this frame, place-based approaches are a recurring trope vested with the bivalent capacity to challenge the preconceptions of African urbanity inherited from colonial-era and Western modernist thought, and to bring out alternative knowledge grounded in the concrete reality of African cities. However, this notion has multiple and oft-diverging meanings, poten-tially nullifying its conceptual and operational validity. This introductory essay puts forward five place-based specifics based on an extensive literature review and against which the contributions collected in this book are tested: (1) the shifting meaning of place from a changeless physical entity to a dynamic social-cultural one, (2) the added value of including local to expert knowledge into multiple knowledge systems, (3) the collaborative or non-collaborative nature of place-based practices and the range of tools and methods for implementing them, (4) democratisation and empowerment ob-jectives in place-based approaches and (5) the role of institutions in establishing place-based initiatives in the long term. As a result, while reinstating the relevance of contextuality in urban planning and design for African cities, this essay calls into question some undesirable aspects of place-based approaches: the limitations of case study-based empiricism, romanticising informal and bottom-up initiatives, and justify-ing the historical retreat of institutionalised public action from responsibility for steer-ing urban change., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Earth observation (EO) capabilities to produce up-to-date geographical information on slums over large areas supporting urban planning and evidence-based policymaking are largely acknowledged. Most EO studies typically use a data-driven approach without an understanding of end-user requirements. This study addresses this gap by aligning EO methods with societal needs and concerns using a user-driven approach in Accra, Ghana. By carrying out in-situ observations and slum experts interviews, we produced a user-driven slum map that meets potential users' expectations. To do so, we used a random forest classifier, SPOT 6 imagery, and ancillary geospatial data such as OpenStreetMap information. The overall classification accuracy for the user-driven approach reached 84%. The results show that the addition of local context-knowledge, end-user requirements, and geo-ethics, help to better contextualise and conceptualise slums. Our research demonstrates an approach of slum mapping that is reflective and open to societal needs and concerns.

In the contemporary European debate, the metaphor of circularity is increasingly used to re-define ambitions and transition cities’ strategies towards more ecological and resilient models. This paper aims at widening the understanding of what could ‘urban circularity’ be, gathering examples of existing Urban Circularity Practices (UCP) as a way to draw empowering insights for a wide public of actors. By focusing on open-air public spaces such as streets/squares (mineral impermeable spaces) and gardens (green permeable spaces), we underline the importance that land has for the fostering of circularity-oriented urban strategies. We frame the question from a spatial point of view, questing what spaces UCP occupy in urban contexts and how to preserve and enhance such practices in space. By exploring the relationship in between UCP and their spatialization, we wish to draw attention on the role that urban planners and architects have when designing spatial layouts, and especially when working on unbuilt spaces. The shaping of narrations of empowering examples of existing well-grounded UCP (focusing on inclusive practices, meant to be shared among a diversified audience) could become an important medium able to question behaviours and encourage the embracing of urban ecological transitioning practices. This paper lists urban circular practices that currently take place in open- air public spaces and selects out of a database elaborated by the authors two case studies to be described more in depth: an historical flea market and a recent urban farm. This focus allows us to elaborate further on the connections between specific urban stakeholders, space typologies and resource management and on the fragility of these UCP, struggling to preserve their spaces., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

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El barrio de Cova da Moura, ubicado en la periferia de Lisboa, alberga un serio conflicto entre dos formas antitéticas de entender el derecho a la ciudad. De un lado, las instituciones públicas intentan habilitar este derecho mediante una ordenación higienista que homologue dicho espacio al resto del territorio portugués. De otro, los vecinos del barrio rechazan los planes urbanísticos propuestos por el Estado y entienden que su derecho a la ciudad pasa por un reconocimiento de la singularidad cultural del vecindario y unas políticas urbanísticas que la protejan. En el presente trabajo se analiza este conflicto, el cual enfrenta dos modelos de territorialización contrapuestos: uno que se construye sobre la categoría abstracta del ciudadano y a través de criterios cartesianos y otro que remite a la noción del vecino y que se apoya sobre la especificidad de experiencias concretas. The Cova da Moura neighborhood, located on the outskirts of Lisbon, holds a serious conflict between two antithetical ways of understanding the right to the city. On the one hand, public institutions try to enable this right through a hygienist arrangement that homologues this space to the rest of the Portuguese territory. On the other, the residents of the neighborhood reject the urban plans proposed by the Portuguese State, and understand that their right to the city goes through a recognition of the cultural uniqueness of the neighborhood and urban planning policies that protect it. In this work this conflict is analyzed. It faces two opposing territorialization models: one that is built on the abstract category of the citizen and through Cartesian criteria, and another that refers to the notion of the neighbor and that relies on the specificity of concrete experiences.. O bairro Cova da Moura, localizado na periferia de Lisboa, alberga um sério conflito entre duas formas antitéticas de entender o direito à cidade. De um lado, as instituições públicas tentam viabilizar esse direito por meio de um arranjo higienista que homologa esse espaço com o restante do território português. De outro lado, os moradores do bairro rejeitam os planos urbanísticos propostos pelo Estado Português e entendem que seu direito à cidade passa pelo reconhecimento da singularidade cultural do bairro e por políticas de planejamento urbano para protegê-la. Neste trabalho analisamos esse conflito, que enfrenta dois modelos de territorialização opostos: um que se baseia na categoria abstrata do cidadão e em critérios cartesianos e outro que se refere à noção de vizinho e que se baseia na especificidade de experiências concretas. Le quartier de Cova da Moura, situé à la périphérie de Lisbonne, entretient un conflit sérieux entre deux manières antithétiques de comprendre le droit à la ville. D’une part, les institutions publiques tentent d’habiliter ce droit par le biais d’un arrangement hygiéniste qui homologue cet espace au reste du territoire portugais. De l’autre, les résidents du quartier rejettent les plans urbains proposés par l’État portugais et comprennent que leur droit à la ville passe par la reconnaissance de la spécificité culturelle du quartier et par les politiques d’urbanisme qui le protègent. Dans ce travail, ce conflit est analysé, qui fait face à deux modèles de territorialisation opposés : un construit sur la catégorie abstraite du citoyen et sur des critères cartésiens, et un autre qui fait référence à la notion de voisin et qui repose sur la spécificité. Des expériences concrètes Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia FCT de Portugal SFRH/BPD/85438/2012

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The article contributes to the debate on the sustainable provision of water supply and sanitation (WSS) services in Global South cities by developing a comprehensive understanding of the concept of sustainability when applied to the analysis of WSS co-production in these contexts. The study moves from the hypothesis that an integrated conceptualization of WSS co-production requires a re-discussion of evaluation approaches to questioning the sustainability of these unorthodox forms of service delivery. To this end, the study explores key dimensions of service sustainability through a complementary reading of the processes and the outcomes of WSS co-production practices on the basis of three theoretical perspectives: a governance-institutional, a socio/political-ecological and an incremental-urban. The objective is to frame a series of principles and criteria relevant for assessing the sustainability of WSS service co-production in Global South cities. The analysis is based on a systematic review of cross-cutting literatures on service co-production in the Global South, sustainable urban water management and urban studies. The review is integrated with empirical insights from four city-case studies of WSS co-production in the Global South, namely Hanoi (Vietnam), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Cochabamba (Bolivia) and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania)., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

High urbanization rates in cities lead to rapid changes in land uses, particularly in southern cities where population growth is fast. Urban and peri-urban agricultural land is often seen as available space for the city to expand, but at the same time, agricultural land provides many benefits to cities pertaining to food, employment, and eco-services. In this context, there is an urgent need to provide spatial information to support planning in complex urban systems. The challenge is to integrate analysis of agriculture and urban land-cover classes, and of their spatial and functional patterns. This paper takes up this challenge in Antananarivo (Madagascar), where agricultural plots and homes are interlocked and very small. It innovates by using a methodology already tested in rural settings, but never applied to urban environments. The key step of the analysis is to produce landscape zoning based on multisource satellite data to identify agri-urban functional areas within the city, and to explore their relationships. Our results demonstrate that the proposed classification method is well suited for mapping agriculture and urban land cover (overall accuracy = 76.56% for the 20 classes of level 3) in such a complex setting. The systemic analysis of urban agriculture patterns and functions can help policymakers and urban planners to design and build resilient cities.

Resumo Esta pesquisa propõe-se a analisar as possibilidades de relações entre as teorias de liderança estratégica e as parcerias intersetoriais aplicadas no contexto da sustentabilidade urbana. As temáticas pesquisadas são sintetizadas em forma de princípios gerais, criando um modelo conceitual que fornece temas-chave e que subsidia lideranças urbanas para que atuem na temática da sustentabilidade como articuladores entre os setores público e privado e sociedade civil. Procedeu-se à revisão de literatura dos temas de sustentabilidade urbana, parcerias intersetoriais, liderança e abordagem estratégica. Com essa pesquisa, identificou-se que parcerias intersetoriais organizadas de forma estratégica podem contribuir significativamente para que as cidades obtenham êxito na inserção da temática da sustentabilidade urbana em suas práticas de desenvolvimento. É possível inferir que o modelo proposto pode ser aplicado tanto em cidades brasileiras quanto na comunidade internacional para a promoção do desenvolvimento urbano sustentável. Resumen El objetivo de esta investigación es analizar las posibles relaciones entre las teorías del liderazgo estratégico y las alianzas intersectoriales y su aplicación en el contexto de sostenibilidad urbana. Los temas abordados se resumen en principios generales con el fin de crear un modelo conceptual que ofrece temas clave que subvenciona a los líderes urbanos para actuar sobre la cuestión de la sostenibilidad como articuladores entre los sectores público, privado y la sociedad civil. Para ello, se lleva a cabo una revisión bibliográfica sobre sostenibilidad urbana, alianzas intersectoriales, liderazgo y abordaje estratégico. En la investigación se identificó que las asociaciones intersectoriales organizadas estratégicamente pueden contribuir significativamente a que las ciudades sean exitosas en la inserción de la temática de la sostenibilidad urbana en sus prácticas de desarrollo. Es posible inferir que el modelo propuesto puede ser aplicado en las ciudades de Brasil y en la comunidad internacional para promover el desarrollo urbano sostenible. Abstract This research aims to analyze possibilities of relationship between strategic approach and intersectorial partnerships theories and how they can be applied in the urban sustainability context. The researched themes are synthetized in form of general principles, aiming to create a framework which provides key-approaches that can support urban leaders to act as connectors between public, private and civil society sectors towards urban sustainability. A review of the literature on urban sustainability, intersectoral partnerships, leadership and strategic approach is carried out. It was possible to identify that intersectoral partnerships strategically organized, may significantly contribute to the success of cities in the insertion of urban sustainability in their development practices. It is possible to infer that the proposed model can be applied to cities in Brazil and also in the international community for the promotion of sustainable urban development. Résumé Cette recherche vise à analyser les possibilités de relation entre les théories de l'approche stratégique et des partenariats intersectoriels et leur application dans le contexte de la durabilité urbaine. Les thèmes de recherche sont synthétisés sous la forme de principes généraux visant à créer un cadre fournissant des approches clés pouvant aider les dirigeants urbains à jouer le rôle de connecteurs entre les secteurs public, privé et de la société civile en vue de la durabilité urbaine. Une revue de la littérature sur la durabilité urbaine, les partenariats intersectoriels, le leadership et l'approche stratégique est réalisée. Il a été possible d'identifier que des partenariats intersectoriels organisés de manière stratégique pourraient contribuer de manière significative au succès des villes dans l'insertion de la durabilité urbaine dans leurs pratiques de développement. On peut en déduire que le modèle proposé peut être appliqué aux villes brésiliennes ainsi qu'à la communauté internationale pour la promotion du développement urbain durable.

Cet article s’intéresse, à partir du cas grenoblois, aux gouvernements des villes aux xxe et xxie siècles. Durant cette période, deux discours programmatiques marquent cette ville. Le premier est formulé au début du xxe siècle et fait de Grenoble le centre névralgique d’une région alpine moderne portée par les industries liées à l’hydroélectricité. La restructuration du tissu industriel, dans les années 1960, met fin à ce projet de société. Au début des années 1980, un nouveau discours émerge et présente cette fois-ci Grenoble comme une ville inscrite dans le réseau mondial des métropoles innovantes. Dans cet article, nous proposons, d’une part, d’analyser la manière dont ces pratiques discursives ont réussi à s’imposer comme projets de société dominants à l’échelle de la ville et, d’autre part, de voir de quelles manières elles se sont matérialisées au sein de la trame urbaine. This article focuses, from the case of Grenoble, on urban governments in the 20th and 21st centuries. Two programmatic speeches shaped the city during this period: the first was formulated at the beginning of the 20th century and made Grenoble the nerve centre of a modern alpine region supported by hydroelectric industries. This project was terminated in the 1960s through restructuring of the industrial sector. A new discourse emerged in the early 1980s, presenting Grenoble as a city within the global network of innovative metropolises. In this article, we propose, on the one hand, to analyse how these discursive practices succeeded in establishing themselves as dominant social projects at the city level and, on the other hand, to see how they materialised within the urban fabric.

Introduction The importance of the transport infrastructure role is often described in the attempt to describe the characteristics of a “smart city”. Good planning and organization of communication networks contributes to the development of cities that are more fluid and user-friendly and sustainable, concepts underlying “smart cities”. The paper focuses on the impact on social organisation and on conception of transport intermodal infrastructures such as city-hubs inducing new and smarter practices of transport infrastructure, but also the urban dimension and their insertion through the actual city and, even more, by the creation of an entirely new neighbourhood and the preoccupation of a better quality of life. As part of the European research project FP7 “City-HUB”, 27 interchanges have been studied in nine European countries. The paper emphases on the implementation of the City-HUB interchange typology to the case study of Lille European Metropolis (MEL) where two contingent railway stations, Lille Flandres and Lille Europe, were analysed as a potential unique interchange named “Euraflandres”with socio-economic impacts and the possibility that it may become a “place” of life in the smart city. Methods Within the FP7 project City-HUB a literature review was conducted on the role and characteristics of interchanges in the cities and their contribution to smart cities [29]. For 27 interchanges in nine European countries, we have determined a number of relationships between these transport multimodal interchanges and their environment, and established a typology capturing different interchanges and a scheme for scoring their characteristics in terms of function and logistic dimensions (demand, number of transport modes, services and facilities, location in the city) and their local constraints. The governance framework was specified through carrying out semi-structured interviews with key interchange actors for each City-HUB case study that also questioned about the role of interchanges in local economies and their potential impact on that. The Lille Flandres and Lille Europe as a unique landmark “Euraflandres” were particularly studied to understand their characteristics and role to contribute to a smarter city. Results Based on the City-HUB typology, the “Euraflandres” gets a score of 9 because its demand is higher than 120,000 in daily passengers, includes 13 public and private transport modes (several PT, long distance coaches, car and bike), is located in the city centre and is included into a local plan of urban development and TOD definition. “Euraflandres” has all the characteristics for becoming an urban Landmark for the city of Lille. We show how this interchange gets a higher role for being a node on the international railway network, and how their inside and outside spatial and functioning reorganisation contribute to ease the use of public transport for travellers by introducing ITS, innovations in ticketing and providing new urban characteristics transforming transport infrastructures into new places to live. Conclusions Linking the smart city and the development made with “Euraflandres”, we have seen that an opportunity exists to join together the two Lille railway stations and urban Public Transport interchanges in order to combine a great urban interchange. It will procure advantages for increasing the accessibility for all destinations at urban Lille metropolis and regional level, but also at the national and international levels by the possibility offered by the French TGVs running on national network and the Railteam high speed trains such as Eurostar and Thalys. Each type of interchange, according to the identified functions and local constraints, should require the involvement of different stakeholders interchanges and the Lille City-HUB management with its stakeholders’ committees seems to be oriented to make effort for finding an agreed way for reducing conflicts, in order to better plan outcomes and to allow communities to have an influence over the future shape of the places where they live. The community-led participation is the first step to identify requirements and needs of operators (i.e. transport activities including services and facilities) and of users who will perceive the City-HUB as a transport node and a place where to have access to their mobility mode and where to carry out some other activities during their waiting time. Despite existing barriers (complex governance framework, physical barriers, functions and logistics to revise, local constraints), all the stakeholders are willing to improve the visibility and the functionality of these interchanges. “Euraflandres” has the role of developing activities and regenerating the urban environment, by transforming the surrounding area features. All this will make cities more convivial and fluid, answering to two key aspects of the Smart City, when we follow the definition of the smart city as a “fluid”, “intelligent” and “convivial” city by [4]. The extension of the Euralille neighbourhood where is located “Euraflandres”, is part of the Lille urban regeneration, still under construction, will provide new housing and also social housing for low income people and new city amenities transforming it in a new place to live transforming the current two separated interchange towards the future one landmark interchange with a higher share of sustainable and affordable public transport modes share.

The constantly increasing amount and availability of urban data derived from varying sources leads to an assortment of challenges that include, among others, the consolidation, visualization, and maximal exploitation prospects of the aforementioned data. A preeminent problem affecting urban planning is the appropriate choice of location to host a particular activity (either commercial or common welfare service) or the correct use of an existing building or empty space. In this thesis we propose an approach to address the preceding challenges availed with machine learning techniques with the random forests classifier as its dominant method in a system that combines, blends and merges various types of data from different sources, encode them using a novel semantic model that can capture and utilize both low-level geometric information and higher level semantic information and subsequently feeds them to the random forests classifier. The data are also forwarded to alternative classifiers and the results are appraised to confirm the prevalence of the proposed method. The data retrieved stem from a multitude of sources, e.g. open data providers and public organizations dealing with urban planning. Upon their retrieval and inspection at various levels (e.g. import, conversion, geospatial) they are appropriately converted to comply with the rules of the semantic model and the technical specifications of the corresponding subsystems. Geometrical and geographical calculations are performed and semantic information is extracted. Finally, the information from individual earlier stages along with the results from the machine learning techniques and the multicriteria methods are integrated into the system and visualized in a front-end web based environment able to execute and visualize spatial queries, allow the management of three-dimensional georeferenced objects, their retrieval, transformation and visualization, as a decision support system.; La quantité et la disponibilité sans cesse croissantes de données urbaines dérivées de sources variées posent de nombreux problèmes, notamment la consolidation, la visualisation et les perspectives d’exploitation maximales des données susmentionnées. Un problème prééminent qui affecte l’urbanisme est le choix du lieu approprié pour accueillir une activité particulière (service social ou commercial commun) ou l’utilisation correcte d’un bâtiment existant ou d’un espace vide. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons une approche pour aborder les défis précédents rencontrés avec les techniques d’apprentissage automatique, le classifieur de forêts aléatoires comme méthode dominante dans un système qui combine et fusionne divers types de données provenant de sources différentes, et les code à l’aide d’un nouveau modèle sémantique. qui peut capturer et utiliser à la fois des informations géométriques de bas niveau et des informations sémantiques de niveau supérieur et les transmet ensuite au classifieur de forêts aléatoires. Les données sont également transmises à d'autres classificateurs et les résultats sont évalués pour confirmer la prévalence de la méthode proposée. Les données extraites proviennent d’une multitude de sources, par exemple: fournisseurs de données ouvertes et organisations publiques s’occupant de planification urbaine. Lors de leur récupération et de leur inspection à différents niveaux (importation, conversion, géospatiale, par exemple), ils sont convertis de manière appropriée pour respecter les règles du modèle sémantique et les spécifications techniques des sous-systèmes correspondants. Des calculs géométriques et géographiques sont effectués et des informations sémantiques sont extraites. Enfin, les informations des étapes précédentes, ainsi que les résultats des techniques d’apprentissage automatique et des méthodes multicritères, sont intégrés au système et visualisés dans un environnement Web frontal capable d’exécuter et de visualiser des requêtes spatiales, permettant ainsi la gestion de trois processus. objets géoréférencés dimensionnels, leur récupération, transformation et visualisation, en tant que système d'aide à la décision.

The contemporary design of public spaces integrates frequently urban cooling installations for thermal comfort in summertime. However, the details of the thermal experience that they provide is yet partially unknown. This paper studies how methods and techniques arising from microclimatology, urban studies and sensory studies can interact for characterizing thermal comfort outdoors. We have reviewed thirteen papers using meteorological measuring instruments and assessed them according to the requirements of methods originating from social sciences and sensory studies for the public space. As a result, we discuss the potentialities and limitations of such techniques to interact through an interdisciplinary methodological design.

International audience; This article offers a critical view of the contemporary urban policies undertaken in France in the name of safe, sustainable urban transport strategies. It seeks to show how a spatially and socially selective ordering is under way in French transport planning and policies by presenting an overview of research and empirical results dealing with the narratives and the implementation of these policies. Firstly, urban transport policies were analysed as narratives. Stressing users' individual responsibility and their capacity to adopt economically rational behaviours, and conveying moral injunctions for them to adopt the 'right', safe, healthy, sustainable mobility behaviours, a depoliticized framing of issues characterizes these public policies. Referring to theoretical frameworks related to neoliberalisation as a rationality, our hypothesis is that a neoliberal rationality feeds these policies by ignoring a certain number of macrosocial determinants. Moreover, the use of morality works as a powerful democratic anaesthetic that dissolves any objection. Secondly, we studied how these policies, legitimated by 'noble causes' and depoliticized, influence the organization of traffic in the city, and to what extent they lead to a selective and uneven treatment of urban spaces. While sustainable mobility is frequently presented as a major objective in the field of urban planning for transport and travel, contemporary policies do not seek to reduce polluting modes of travel overall. They rather seek to direct them onto bypass road infrastructures to reduce their negative impacts on the city's main sites. 'Sustainable' policies oppose the car only in certain spaces and for certain uses. With reference to theoretical frameworks related to the entrepreneurial mutation of urban policies, our interpretation is that these policies are part of urban marketing strategies of cities engaged in inter-urban competition processes. These policies lead to an increase in the value and attractiveness of strategic areas of the city, and tend to displace problems (cars, noise, pollution…, and deprived populations) to other parts of the urban territory.

Many large cities in Southeast Asia have undergone parallel processes of modernization, gentrification and exclusion as a result of economic development. In Yangon, Myanmar’s former capital city and still the main urban centre, this process has accelerated only recently. Since the start of the current political and economic transition period in 2010, opportunities for employment, education and business have been drawing ever larger numbers of people towards Yangon. While the city is emerging as an Asian metropolis, it faces problems of marginalization, congestion, gentrification and its corollary, the growth of informal urban outskirts that contribute to rising inequality rather than inclusive development. The exogenous, non-democratic and top-down urban policy led in an uncoordinated manner by the national, regional and municipal authorities leads to more social injustice and inequalities. Urban planning policies such as conservation heritage are also questioned in terms of the inequalities they are likely to generate. However, the marginalized groups, violently evicted or not, should also get their “right to Yangon”. In order to present the three following articles, this article aims at introducing Yangon’s metropolization and its challenges for the Yangonites, discussing the causes and consequences of these new and exacerbated forms of exclusion. Nombreuses sont les grandes villes d’Asie du Sud-Est à s’être développées économiquement et à avoir ensuite connu une modernisation, une gentrification et l’exclusion d’une partie de leur population. À Yangon, l’ancienne capitale et le principal centre urbain du Myanmar, ces processus se sont accélérés depuis peu. Résultant de la transition politique et économique commencée en 2010, les nouvelles opportunités d’emploi, d’éducation et économiques y attirent une population toujours plus nombreuse. Sa métropolisation est en marche, mais elle fait face à une marginalisation d’une partie de sa population, une gentrification et à la croissance de l’habitat informel en périphérie. Tous ces problèmes contribuent à l’augmentation des inégalités au lieu d’un développement inclusif. La politique urbaine, exogène, non-démocratique, top-down et menée de façon incoordonnée par les autorités gouvernementales, régionales et municipales, conduit à une plus grande injustice sociale et à des inégalités croissantes. Les politiques d’aménagement urbain, comme la conservation du patrimoine, sont à appréhender en s’interrogeant sur les inégalités qu’elles peuvent créer. Les groupes marginalisés, déplacés avec ou sans l’usage de la force, devraient obtenir leur « droit à la ville ». Afin de présenter les trois contributions suivantes, notre article présente les défis de la métropolisation de Yangon pour ses habitants et analyse les nouvelles formes exacerbées d’exclusion.

This doctoral research analyses the ongoing debate on ecological transition of post-industrial European cities in relation to the notion of ‘circularity’, as a concept gaining momentum in urban debate on sustainability. This work aims at contributing to the developing of such notion in the context of the urban built environment, delineating further the notion of Urban Circularity (UC) and more in general of ‘circular city’, both conceptually and empirically, through a case-studies oriented analysis. By focusing on the complexity of circular actions in practice in the Brussels Capital Region (BCR), this research arrives at the identification of an existing ‘gap’ in between the world of abstraction of circularity principles (looping-schemes illustrating ‘circularity’ strategies) and the world of complex terrain experimentation and hands-on knowledge-development. The aim is to help the identification of current barriers and potential horizons in UC implementation and the influences that urban planning strategies have on such practices., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Cities are continuously gaining importance in an increasingly urban world. They are transformed by processes of extension and restructuring, with multi-centrism tendencies and growing metropolitan concentration of people, economic capacity and political power.In the Portuguese case, gaining insight into this question is essential for understanding the post-1974 transformations, and the deep changes promoted by democracy and accompanied by the European integration, with the animation of the consumer society and the anxiety of the Lehman Brothers and sovereign debt crisis. Through complex mechanisms, cities must take on the heavy responsibility of shaping the future of the country.Thus, we will pay particular attention to cities, urbanization, urbanism and urban politics. We present a detailed synthesis and analysis about the urban development in Portugal and suggest reflection on the future. Les villes continuent à avoir une grande importance dans un monde de plus en plus urbain. Elles sont transformées par des processus d'extension et de restructuration, avec des tendances pluri-centriques et une concentration métropolitaine croissante (population, capacité économique et pouvoir politique).Dans le cas portugais, l’analyse urbaine est un moyen essentiel pour comprendre les transformations post-1974, les changements profonds qui ont eu lieu dans la démocratie et qui ont accompagné l'intégration européenne, le dynamisme de la société de consommation et l'anxiété post-Lehman Brothers, avec la crise de la dette souveraine. À travers des mécanismes complexes, les villes doivent assumer la lourde responsabilité d’organiser l’avenir du pays. Nos réflexions porteront donc sur les villes portugaises, l'urbanisation, l'urbanisme et la politique urbaine. Nous proposons une synthèse sur l'évolution récente du pays et envisageons quelques changements futurs.

Collection "Global Suburbanisms"; International audience

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The concepts of metabolism, ecosystems, and circular economy are currently challenging the discipline of urbanism. As the shift from linear to circular production-consumption patterns seems to be ultimate for reducing the externalities of our urban environments and to meet stricter environmental targets, the search for sustainable territorial metabolism has become imperative for our metropolitan areas.This publication questions the European foundation of urbanism in relation to the challenge of territorial metabolism and combines theoretical contributions with cutting edge design proposals for European metropolitan regions. It synthetizes two years of intensive research by design on Barcelona, Brussels, and Veneto conducted jointly by the Laboratory on Urbanism, Infrastructure and Ecology of the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), the Instituto IUAV di Venezia and the Laboratori d’Urbanisme de Barcelona (ETSAB)., info:eu-repo/semantics/published, 1

The new pedestrian area in the centre of Brussels is one of the most important urban projects of the last decades. In 2015, the central traffic artery, Boulevard Anspach, was pedestrianised. The public space and the biggest metro stations must still be renovated. The implementation of this project and the challenges it faces are inherently complex. Experiences in Belgium and abroad show that the impact on the city centre of Brussels will be significant at different levels: the quality of public space; housing and public services; local economy and employment; mobility, logistics and accessibility; and social and cultural activities. However, recent data and analyses are fragmented, non-existent or inaccessible for all stakeholders involved. Nevertheless, an urban project may only succeed when knowledge and expertise are gathered and shared, and used to support decision-making. Therefore, BSI - Brussels Centre Observatory (BSI-BCO) is monitoring this project closely. Previously published research is further developed in this synopsis [Portfolio, This synopsis is based in part on the work published in the first Portfolio produced by BSI - Brussels Centre Observatory (BSI-BCO), whose authors we wish to thank: Mathieu Berger, Kobe Boussauw, Céline Brandeleer, Jean-Michel Decroly, Bas de Geus, Jean-Philippe De Visscher, Thomas Ermans, Jean-Louis Genard, Virginie Jourdain, Imre Keseru, Bram Kin, Kevin Lebrun, Christophe Loir, Cathy Macharis, Mathieu Strale, Pierre Vanderstraeten, Linus Vanhellemont, Sara Verlinde, Benjamin Wayens and Nils Wuytens. The authors of the present synopsis assume sole responsibility for it. This work was carried out with support from the City of Brussels and Brussels-Capital Region., This synopsis note was translated from French and is also available in Dutch in the same journal., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Cet article analyse la création d’un parc public à Istanbul, le Topkapı Kültür Parkı, dans l’arrondissement de Zeytinburnu. Ce travail s’appuie à la fois sur des observations directes dans le parc et sur des entretiens menés auprès de reponsables municipaux et de gardiens. Il s’agit de montrer les enjeux de la fabrication de ce territoire : confiscation spatiale, redéfinition de l’urbanité et promotion de valeurs prônées par l’AKP. Dans un premier temps, en étudiant l’histoire du lieu avant qu’il devienne un parc et sa transformation urbaine, cet article s’interroge sur le processus d’effacement de l’ancienne mémoire et des anciens usages de ce territoire, qui permet d’évincer les indésirables. Ensuite, l’analyse de l’aménagement du parc dans les années 2000, qui correspond au modèle de parc mis en œuvre à Istanbul depuis les années 1990, pose la question de la standardisation urbaine. Enfin, il s’agit de réfléchir aux relations entre formes, usages et régulation des espaces publics urbains et à la fabrique des normes de comportements. This paper analyses how public parks are manufactured in Istanbul in the case of Topkapı Kültür Parkı, located in the district of Zeytinburnu. Based on direct observations and interviews carried out with municipal authorities and the park’s caretakers, this study argues that municipal authorities manufacture the park through the confiscation of land, the redefinition of urban life, and the promotion of the values of the Justice and Development Party [Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP]. Firstly, the history of the place prior to its urban transformation will be studied with a particular focus on the issues raised by the eviction of undesirables and the erasure of alternative memories and previous uses of the land. The paper will move on to discuss the development of Topkapı Kültür Parkı in the 2000s as correlative to the public park model established in Istanbul since the 1990s and the question of the standarisation of urban space. Finally, this paper focuses on the ways in which the forms, uses and regulation of urban public spaces are connected and how behavioural norms are manufactured.

National audience; Urban planning is an important issue for all cities. In order to meet the challenges of sustainable urban planning, we propose a participative decision-support tool that allows stakeholders to engage jointly in structuring a decision process, to identify alternatives, to construct criteria, to challenge their relevance and to evaluate them. The novelty in our approach is the use of an argumentative approach to support multicriteria decision aiding. The use of an argumentative framework allows the stakeholders to formalize the decision problem by taking explicitly into account the diverse opinions expressed and ensuring their traceability. Through the argumentative approach, our goalis thus to enhance participatory decision making by organizing and formalizing debates between stakeholders. To this effect, we propose AIPA, an interface the makes the transition between natural language and abstract argumentation systems. Our aim is to place debates at the center of the decision analysis process in order to facilitate the acceptance of the final decision by all parties.

Global dynamics such as economic transformations and reorganizations of production led to the crisis of many former industrial cities in Europe and the U.S in the last decades of the 20th century. Most of them have suffered or are still suffering from urban decay and shrinkage. The severity and persistence of some of these processes have called into question both the future of these cities and the ability of urban planning to deal with decline. The trajectory of some industrial cities, whose crisis has persisted despite local efforts to confront it, could lead to regard decline as an irreversible process and to accept the impossibility of urban planning to intervene in it. Nevertheless, the gradual restructuring of some European industrial cities in recent years, seem to point toward the relevance of local response to global dynamics. Different paths of development may only be explained from the distinctiveness of each territory, specific local decisions and successive strategies to tackle decay. These processes of revitalization seem to reveal the importance of local action and the possibility of guiding and easing decline. Even more, they point out to the crucial role of planning.These experiences show different ways to tackle decay. This paper aims to explore the role of certain planning strategies on guiding the futures of industrial regions. Les transformations économiques globales et la réorganisation de la production des dernières décennies du XXème siècle ont mené de nombreuses villes industrielles en Europe et aux États-Unis à la crise. La portée et la persistance de ces processus du déclin introduisent autant la question du futur des villes industrielles en déclin que celle de la capacité d’intervention de l’aménagement urbain.L’évolution de beaucoup de villes industrielles dans lesquelles la crise s’est prolongée jusqu’à aujourd’hui, malgré les efforts locaux pour l’empêcher, pourrait nous amener à penser que le déclin urbain est un procès irréversible. Cependant, la récupération progressive de certaines villes industrielles européennes dans les dernières années signale des possibilités locales de réaction face aux dynamiques globales. Les trajectoires divergentes des villes industrielles peuvent seulement être comprises en se référant à la singularité de chaque territoire. Ces processus de renouvellement ont dévoilé l’importance de l’action locale et la possibilité de maîtriser le déclin. Ils révèlent aussi le rôle de l’aménagement et des politiques urbaines locales. Cet article analyse certaines stratégies de renouvellement des villes industrielles en Europe.

© 2016 Aristide Athanassiadis, Completed under a Cotutelle arrangement between the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the University of Melbourne, Urban areas cover 2% of the Earth’s land surface, host more than 50% of global population and are estimated to account for around 75% of CO2 emissions from global energy use. In order to mitigate existing and future direct and indirect environmental pressures resulting from urban resource use, it is necessary to investigate and better understand resource and pollution flows associated with urban systems. Current urban environmental assessment methodologies enable the quantification of resource use and pollution emissions flows entering, becoming stocked and exiting urban areas. While these methodologies enable to estimate the environmental effect of cities, they often consider urban areas as being static and homogeneous systems. This partial and simplistic representation shadows the complex spatio-temporal interrelationships between the local context and its associated local and global environmental pressures. This characterisation of urban systems is a significant limitation, not only for the urban environmental assessments, but also for the identification of their drivers as it may lead to inadequate urban environmental policies. To overcome this limitation and effectively reduce glocal urban environmental pressures, it is necessary to better understand the complex functioning of cities and identify their drivers. This research developed a comprehensive urban environmental assessment framework that helps to better explicit and understand the complex relationship between an urban system and its environmental profile in a systemic and systematic way. This framework was applied to the case study of Brussels Capital Region (BCR). Results from the application of this framework show that urban systems are neither static nor homogeneous. In fact, different relationships between the urban and metabolic profiles appear when considering different spatial scales and temporal intervals as well as different urban and metabolic metrics. The establishment of BCR’s urban profile showed that components that shape the urban system evolve in an organic way over time. Moreover, the spatial expression of an urban system portrays its heterogeneous aspect and how different metrics of the same urban indicator can reveal distinct facets and challenges for an urban area or a neighbourhood. Finally, it was demonstrated that the relationship between urban indicators is different for each spatial scale and therefore knowledge from one spatial scale is not necessarily transferable from one scale to another. The establishment and analysis of BCR’s metabolic profile also underlined the complex functioning of cities as each flow has a different temporal evolution and spatial expression. Due to the multifaceted and intertwined aspect of metabolic flows it becomes clear that no single parameter enables to explain or predict their behaviour. This leads to the conclusion that a great number of questions still need to be considered, understood and answered before effectively and coherently reducing environmental pressures from cities. The developed framework proposes a number of concrete steps that enable existing and new cities to better understand their metabolic functioning and ultimately transition towards less environmentally harmful futures.

International audience; Thanks to their efficiency, their capacity to exploit local energy sources and the adaptability of their energy mix, district-heating solutions are nowadays amongst the preferred options to supply heat to urban areas in Europe. As for all grid-based systems, estimating future consumption is an important issue for the development of heating networks. In French district heating projects, however, the numerous demand assessments that are produced at various stages of the design process comply with divergent calculation standards.Drawing on an extensive empirical work on energy design in urban development projects, this paper therefore explores the following questions:- What does explain both the diversity and the divergence of calculation standards for future heating demand?- What are the consequences of this dissonance between standards for district-heating systems and projects?- Why do these standards remain unquestioned?

In a discussion of the findings of extensive research of everyday household practices, this chapter suggests effective policy responses to increasingly more expensive petrol prices. Our research involved interviews, observations and analyses of low-income households adapting their mobility practices and residential locations within highly car-dependent urban environments. The chapter examines two main types of practices of households in car-dependent outer suburbs: either households opt 'to stay', forgoing sustained mobility and a varied range of activities, or they choose 'to go' and relocate in areas where travel costs are less of a burden on their budgets. Our research analyzed statistics in the French National Census (FNC) 2008 and the Household Travel Survey (HTS) 2003 relating to the Paris region and qualitative analysis of two interview surveys conducted among sixty households in 2010 and 2011. This research was funded by the French Ministry of Sustainable Development and Transport.

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