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Assessment is a determining principle of the AEU2 ( French acronym standing for Environmental Approach for Urban Planning 2) ; the assessment process integrated in a cross-cutting way into the planning project helps understand and better qualify the values of this project. Evaluation is not an end in itself but a means to achieve the perpetual improvement of a project or planning practices.

A few years ago in France, facilitating dialogue with inhabitants on urban planning was still seen as a potential added value to projects, if one had the time or means to do so. Today, it is becoming clear that collaborative urban planning, uniting a number of stakeholders, including inhabitants, is an effective project method.

Produced by Cap Digital at the end of 2016, this prospective report highlights a whole series of questions, concerning the disinterest of the citizens for the public thing, their mistrust toward those who embody it, resulting in low voter turnout and polarization towards extremes.

Based on the experience of its members, the French Network for Sustainable City (IVD) has come up with 6 proposals to accelerate the deployment of sustainable cities in all contexts, notably by improving city governance and innovation support.

Ivry-sur-Seine emergency shelter is located on the brownfield site of the water treatment plant, an extensive 90 000-square-metre parcel belonging to the City of Paris.

The shelter is part of the response to the arrival of around 60 persons per day within intra-mural Paris, women, children and men fleeing war-torn countries or misery. It was designed to shelter 400 persons, families, couples and isolated women for 2 to 6 months, while they apply for asylum. This settlement is temporary, supposed to last 5 years at most.

The architect Jean-Philippe Le Covec was in charge of designing the new site of Thales Group in Bordeaux Merignac. Ultra-modern and high environmental performance building, it was conceived to improve the occupants’ performance and well-being. It spans 9 buildings at the heart of a landscaped park:

At the entrance of the site, a whole building is dedicated to the reception and services, with a company restaurant, a business centre, a space for the employee representative committee, a showroom as well as numerous meeting rooms,

The architecture of the Société Générale’s campus, “The Dunes”, which is wave-shaped, expresses the group’s willingness to differentiate itself, as much from the viewpoint of architectural innovation than from a societal perspective. This project breaks away from mainstream offices. Its main objective is to provide a place where it is pleasant to work.

Operation Magnolias is a CDC Habitat project of  23 collective housing units in Toulouse. It was awarded the ADEME Midi-Pyrénées region’s call for economical building projects. This project was set up within the context of urban densification in order to reduce financial and ecological costs. Constraints stemming from existing buildings and limited space have encouraged the implementation of exemplary environmental initiatives. The materials used are partly bio-sourced and allow prefabrication to limit construction site nuisances.

Aubevoye’s water treatment plant meets the requirements of the innovative HQE process, offering a bioclimatic operations building with a Douglas pine tree wooden frame.

The natural and high performance materials used enable a safe, comfortable and long-lasting construction which is also positive-energy thanks to a photovoltaic roof. The building is oriented on a North/South axis, benefiting from an optimal sunshine over the winter, while in summer the heat is dissipated thanks to the dual-flow ventilation system and the sun-breaker devices on the roof.

Triballat Noya is a dairy factory committed to organic and green farming. In order to accommodate its IT services, the company decided to resort to an innovative eco-design process: the building using locally-sourced, organic materials, made of hemp concrete, a plant whose seeds are harvested by the company for their food products. The idea was to design a building that would like them, enhance the agricultural sector and minimise its environmental impact.

“The countryside in Paris” project is a collective housing project in Paris’ 20th arrondissement. The main challenge for the contracting authority was to find a balance between construction cost, sustainability and environmental quality. The dwellings are divided into small town houses and smaller collective housing, which have been designed to minimise tenants’ costs.

Mozaik is a renovation project of an 18 000-square-metre office building complex, spanning 8 superstructure floors, adaptable and convertible according to occupants’ needs. Well-being, comfort and respect for the environment were at the heart of the implementation of the project.

Studies carried out beforehand helped identify the best equipment and materials for this purpose, and 90% of the waste from the construction site was recovered. Mosaik was selected to take part in the HQE Performance test, which assesses the environmental performance of buildings.

This document, fruit of a strong interprofessional co-construction and usable by all, is co-signed by the Ministry of Ecological and Solidarity Transition, the Ministry of Territorial Cohesion, ADEME, CSTB and the Association OREE. By shared benchmarks, common vocabularies understandable by all, the framework of definition of the circular economy in the building wishes to help the actors of the sector of the building and the real estate to better apprehend the circular economy and to act, to facilitate transversality and encourage different stakeholders to work together.

Located in Isneauville, close to Rouen, “Sunny” is the new regional headquarters of Axa. This new real estate complex is made of 3 buildings connected by broad glazed walkways. The project was developed through BIM from the beginning, to reach the final objective: a digital executed works file (DOE).

Amsterdam has made sustainable mobility a key feature of its brand, as shown in the stunning images of bike highways across the country. Today, every city is angling to become as bike-friendly as the Dutch capital. Paris is also pursuing this dream, overshadowing the fact it is already the world champion for an even more sustainable form of mobility: walking.

This report has was produced by the law firm LexCity as part of the working group led by the French Network for the Sustainable City on “New legal tools for innovative urban projects”. Its objective is to analyse, identify and clarify the benefits and best practices of public law legal tools for urban innovation. These tools are also a means of cooperation between public and private actors.

This report was produced by the law firm LexCity as part of the working group led by the French Network for the Sustainable City on “New legal tools for innovative urban projects”. Its objective is to analyse and identify the various private law legal tools in effect that may facilitate urban innovation projects.

The Patrick Cazal Sports Hall, located within a 35ha leisure park in Saint Denis (Reunion Island), was designed as a climatic shelter. A passive and porous building (not waterproof nor hermetic), it provides users’ thermal and acoustic comfort. Thanks to its architectonics textile, the roof can let natural light in while being able to withstand cyclonic winds. The micro-perforated textile frontage also enables natural ventilation and lighting.

The sustainable building reference framework of the HQE-GBC Alliance concerns all building and real estate stakeholders who wish to enter a progressive approach in favor of the quality of life, respect for the environment and economic performance. It applies to all types of new buildings, existing, renovation or operation. Made up of principles, commitments and objectives, it proposes a structuring vision in order to support the actors and to facilitate the operational implementation of sustainable buildings.

A group of residents from Le Bono, initially representing 6 households, decided to gather around common values in 2010 to design a shared housing project. Drafting a Charter starting from a founding text that combines living together, environmental concern and the social and solidary economy provided the common thread for the design and implementation of this project, which bears its name: “the Thread” (“le fil” in French).

The Pays Saint Méen Montauban urban community decided to use 90% biosourced materials to build this nursery on its territory. Straw bales, wood and clay soil are therefore the main resources making up this construction. The urban community also called for citizens’ involvement as part of a participatory construction site and all the stakeholders were consulted in the process.

The Guyana Forest and Wood House is promoting the Guyanese wood sector. The building was developed as a demonstrator of the originality and performance of this sector. The Peyi wood was selected to meet the architectural and natural resources management requirements. The building’s different volumes and heights address the needs of the program, which welcomes not only the public but also a research lab and offices. The structure also meets the climate requirements (natural ventilation, solar protection…)  of the site.

The Elizabethan theatre of Hardelot Castle is located at the heart of the Condette wetland natural reserve, not far away from the coastline and exposed to the wind. This building, designed from spruce concentric cylinders is the first project of naturally ventilated theatre. It offers to the audience a close relation to the stage while meeting the environmental requirements intended by the Pas de Calais local government (bioclimatic building, thermal inertia, natural ventilation…)

Caen Normandy Metropole’s regional food project was launched in October 2017. For one year, a participatory approach involving all the regional players led to the development of strategic guidelines that were recognised by the National Food Programme (NFP) label in February 2019.

Eighteen kilometres from the sea, at the confluence of the Orne and the Odon, Caen is most definitely a city between sea and nature.

Structured by a partially channelled coastal river, the city was heavily affected to the north by the metallurgical industry, while preserving to the south direct access to nature by its vast flood meadow that goes right into the heart of the city.

Digital technology is spreading to the economy as a whole. While some activities are strictly digital, such as computer activities or software publishing, digital is also found in many activities such as industrial automation, installation and maintenance of production lines and so on.

Ultimately, digital technologies are being deployed, like a web, throughout the economy.

In April 2016, ADDUAM organised a workshop with the FNAU Urban and Landscape Project Club around the town of Saint-Pierre: five days of visits and discussions, mixing analysis of the region, elaboration of strategies, collective reflection and formulating proposals, all orchestrated by the club's three facilitators, giving practical expression to the skills of the agencies for a multiscale regional project in association with local professionals from the town.

The commune of Ile d'Oléron uses donkeys to assist in its beach cleaning operations. About fifty beach clean-up operations were organised during the year with the participation of many volunteers and students (secondary school, college and school students). Working in this way has made it possible to collect micro-waste from beaches while preserving the unique sea foreshore and the ecosystems of the beach and dune.

The Recycl'Lab is a collaborative space, a showcase for projects led by Greater Reims on waste prevention. It is a pedagogical space intended for all audiences in the region. The watchwords of the undertaking are REDUCE, RECYCLE and REUSE. Four associations welcome local residents to the Recycl'Lab:

-Vel'Oxygène, which will run bicycle repair workshops,

- The SEL (Local Exchange System) in Reims, which offers a collaborative vision of service exchanges,

- The JCE (Junior Chamber of Commerce) in Reims, which is setting up a library of tools on loan or lease,

Africa is in a historic phase of rapid city building. It is creating transport infrastructure and systems that will shape the continent far into the future.

Making these transport systems safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable for all is fundamental to livable, productive, low carbon and healthy African cities.

Most African cities rely on some form of semi-formal transport, often minibuses, dominated by fragmented private operators.

The URM approach aims to provide territories foresight and potential local opportunities identification to give decision-makers comprehensive and geo-localized evidence about anticipated and possible future change in resources consumption and needs, houses to renovate or build, citizens to host.

ADEME has developed a simple educational tool so that communities can begin thinking about adapting to climate change by carrying out a pre-diagnosis of vulnerability.

This tool consists of an Excel file where the user inputs data and visualises results relating to the impacts of climate change and regional vulnerability, and an accompanying guide to understand how to use the Excel file.

The ambition of the "Marathon for Biodiversity" project initiated by the Saône Beaujolais community of communes is to preserve and create or restore 42 km of hedges and 42 ponds in the 42 communes in the area.

This restoration of ecological environments will follow a precise mapping of the hedges and ponds present on the land that makes up the community of communes.

This project is one of the nominees for the 28th edition of the Eco Action Trophies, the leading sustainable development competition for local communities, organised by the Les Eco Maires association.

As part of its Agenda 21, Champcueil is committed to preserving biodiversity, improving water management and improving the living conditions of its inhabitants. Many actions have therefore been implemented to meet these objectives, such as the installation of river water reclaimers, the installation of nesting boxes and insect hotels and the greening of a cycle path with fruit trees.

As part of its sustainable development policy, Champneuville has initiated the conversion of a wasteland into a "multifunctional" place, taking the form of a shared garden as well as a theatre and playground for all generations.

This garden is intended to encourage participation and has therefore been designed with the residents for a better appropriation of the place by its users.

In 2014, a project to convert an industrial port wasteland into an eco-neighbourhood was launched near the historic centre of Rouen. This programme intends to focus on three priorities: the preservation of biodiversity and soils, the construction of a mixed eco-neighbourhood, in particular through the construction of social rental housing and shops, and alternative water management to combat heat islands and collect the Luciline River, previously channelled.

Based on the heat production inherent in the incineration of household waste, the city of Plaisir wishes to increase the reuse capacity of this heat source, by doubling the length of the network to supply additional neighbourhoods and residences along the existing network route. There are multiple objectives:

-to reduce energy costs for heating buildings,

-to preserve the environment by using waste heat (zero pollution),

With the aim of making all resources on ventilation regulations available to construction stakeholders, the website www.batiment.ventilation.fr is aimed primarily at professionals involved from the creation and prescription to receipt and maintenance of ventilation systems.

This practical guide, developed by AFD and Iddri, is intended to support local authorities in meeting the challenge of digital transition with all the city's stakeholders: decision-makers, municipal technical teams, residents and users, operators and urban development project managers.

Its content is based on the realities of cities in Africa, the Arab world, Asia and Latin America, but the methodological aid is universal in scope.

MADRE is a European territorial cooperation project (Interreg MED), which aims to change the metropolitan food supply model by capitalising on existing good practices, by empowering the different stakeholders in metropolitan and peri-urban agriculture, and by initiating a dynamic of transnational cooperation in the MED region.

Digital technology has taken over cities, but not at all in the way the “smart city” scenario tells us. It has indeed deeply transformed the lives of city dwellers and the functioning of certain urban services, but it has done so without any existing strategic input from actors working in urban planning, particularly from public authorities. Through case study analysis, this project seeks to identify the collaboration challenges between new digital actors and traditional actors, notably local authorities .

The 32nd issue of the National Federation of Urban Planning Agencies (FNAU), “The stakes of overseas planning” is the result of a collaboration between the three overseas urban planning agencies and the FNAU.

Published following the seminar of directors of urban planning agencies held in Martinique in October 2013, this issues reviews the stakes of planning in the specific context of overseas territories. It inlcudes sections on natural risks, economic models, mobility iessues and natural heritage etc.