MC3-Network: Mediterranean Cities and Climate Change.

MC3-Network: Mediterranean Cities and Climate Change.

A Mediterranean Network for Urbanism and Climate Change

In the face of increasing urban population concentration on both sides of the Mediterranean Sea, it is important, following the recommendations of the UN-Habitat and the GIEC, to estimate the contribution of the city to climate changes, and the impact of these changes on urban practices. There are, however, few measurement tools for climate at intra-urban scale, and few programs focusing on the collective understanding of climate change and the practices of urban planning. This project proposes the establishment of a Mediterranean network of institutions, a survey of current knowledge and measurement tools at the interface between climate change and town planning. This network will be established by research institutions, by urban monitoring observatories, and by institutions related to urban design, planning and management. It will provide two surveys of current knowledge. The first concerns the measurement tools and used and usable indicators regarding climatology and urban microclimatology. The second will be based on an inventory and an analysis of the existing programs, and experiences of city planning including issues related to climate change. The work will be summarized in a white paper on urban planning at Mediterranean scale, and research perspectives and a proposal for a program at Euro-Mediterranean scale.

The four aims are: 1-to develop partnerships with the research institutions, monitoring centers and networks around the

Mediterranean Sea, to exchange experiences and develop new research programs; 2-to develop strategies for institutional

relations between observatories and research laboratories on the theme of urban planning and climate change; 3- to update

and develop the systems for the observation and knowledge of cities on the basis of targeted programs; 4-to generate a

dynamic for the setting up of a Euro-Mediterranean program on this theme.

The program will be based on South-North coordination, and for the organization of exchanges between the various participating institutions. From an initial core of institutions, the first task will be to broaden the network and to build a collaborative Web tool; the second task will be to explore the measurement tools for climate change; the third will focus on investigating tools and innovations related to town planning; the last task will be to present a survey highlighting the Mediterranean specificities of this climate change - urban planning interface.

"This work is been carried out thanks to the support of the A*MIDEX project (n° ANR-11-IDEX-0001-02) funded by the «

Investissements d’Avenir » French Government program, managed by the French National Research Agency (ANR)"

A*MIDEX - MC3-Network Overview

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Today, it goes without saying that the city and urban growth are at the core of current concerns regarding sustainable development. The recent reports of the GIEC (Revi et al., 2014) and those of the Blue Plan for the Mediterranean Sea (Chaline, 2001; Plan-Bleu, 2012) constantly remind us of the enormous challenge which the control of urban growth constitutes. "Adaptation to climate change depends centrally on what is done in urban centers - which now house more than half the world's population and concentrate most of its assets and economic activities" (Revi et al., 2014, chapter 8, p.5). The world is becoming increasingly urbanized, a trend that shows no sign of abating, increasingly concentrating the activities at the source of the problems of climate change: transport, industrial activity, discharge of contaminants, dispersal of energy, reverberation, impermeability, etc. (Oke, 1973; Mills, 2007; Desplat et al., 2009; Colombert et al., 2012); activities which often suffer from a total lack of control with regard to their expansion, in the countries of the South in particular. The consequences of climatic risks impact the most vulnerable populations from the point of view of the housing environment or health issues (United-Nations, 2011a; b); they are also indirect, with an impact on resources (water, air, food), generating vulnerability related to disparities regarding access. The Mediterranean urban areas are particularly sensitive to these forms of impact. They combine vulnerability related to the climate (extreme heat and low availability of water), intensive urban expansion in the coastal areas (climate-related events, pollution), and the absence of urban regulation (extensive unstable housing environment, deregulation of construction, mismanagement of waste); to this may be added the high risk of natural disasters. According to the Blue Plan (Plan-Bleu, 2012), this vulnerability is aggravated by the very strong socio-spatial imbalance In access to services and to resources, which the political authorities are today incapable of managing. The question of the sustainable city (or rather sustainable city-growth), under the impact of climate change, cannot be resolved solely by the control of energy, or the reduction of the effects, but rather by a more general improvement of living conditions through a better thought out and better managed city, on the basis of spatial equity (Theys & Emelianoff, 2001; Desjardins, 2011; Mancebo, 2011). Numerous studies have focused on this theme, highlighting the fact that the city is also a place of innovation, a place where better opportunities for adaptation to climate change can be developed, especially in high-income countries (Satterthwaite, 2013; Revi et al., 2014). Cavin & Bourg, 2010, observe that this debate revolves around two conceptions of sustainability, which have a not insignificant impact on ways of developing resilience in the face of environmental impact. The first conception, ‘Promethean’, is a race to develop the technological control of the ‘Total Urban’ in the face

of nature. This means "zero carbon" cities such as Abu Dhabi, Masdar City, and Dubai, that base sustainability on a reduction of carbon emissions, through control of the heating and cooling systems, energy, transport or waste. Even if the "green" aspect is included in this conception, nevertheless artificialisation and control through technology remain intrinsically vulnerable factors. Nowadays, this approach can provide a model for the southern countries of the Mediterranean Sea, far removed from existing local situations and specificities, as the experience of the El Aznar Park in Egypt, or the cities of Anfa or Zenata in Morocco (Plan-Bleu, 2012) have shown, but also for the North, as a look around Marseille (AGAM, 2013) will confirm. The second conception, ‘Orphean’, is a response to the predictable failure of this type of modernity. The conservation of the natural capital, by means of ecosystem services, is the priority in the construction of sustainability, associated with a notion of harmonious cohabitation and involving mechanisms of participative democracy. These are the ecological corridors, the green and blue belts, the eco-districts, etc., which are based on a rethinking of the organization of the urban space and the revalorising of spaces with natural character (Bonard & Matthey, 2010; Clergeau, 2012; Clergeau & Blanc, 2013). In this case, it is also imperative to consider periurban zones, that may constitute ‘buffer’ areas in the face of urban sprawl (Djellouli et al., 2010), favorable for the development of ecosystem services (Delattre & Napoléone, 2001; Napoléone & Geniaux, 2009; Zasada, 2011). There is doubtless a possible intermediary path between these two situations, the logic of which is still not very clear. The city of tomorrow, the one which will have to face the consequences of the changes, is being built today, and we have to make choices without delay. It would be very difficult at present to propose models of climatic behavior for urban districts, adapted to local situations, in the same way that it is impossible to usefully define the modalities of a new type of town planning designed to take into account climate-related events or simply their variability. These concepts exist in theory (Calthorpe, 2011), but the empirical data remain weak. Furthermore, to define these options, what we need rather is a diagnosis neither of the sources nor of the impact of climate change, which are already very well established (Calthorpe, 2011; Bulkeley, 2013; Revi et al., 2014), nor the doubtless too limited decisions of international conferences (Mancebo, 2011). It is a matter of gathering the feedback, the potential and the constraints which certain cities can mobilize, in particular in the countries of the South, in relation with their own conditions and local characteristics. Observatories are good tools on which to base this, and there are a large number around the Mediterranean Sea, but as the diagnosis developed by the LABEX "Urban Future" indicates, it is necessary to update the observation systems and knowledge of the cities, to

focus them on the issues of today .

In this project, we plan to mobilize the existing competencies within the research institutes at Aix Marseille University, and already established Mediterranean partnerships, to organize a network for the purpose of developing research at the interface between town planning and climate change. The LPED, through the establishment of the OPEU

1 (Multidisciplinary Monitoring Center on the Urban

Environment), has developed multiple competencies focused on urban environmental issues, associating multiple research partners and public authorities. Other laboratories of the OSU-Pytheas Institute

2 collaborate

on these questions on the basis of the establishment of monitoring centers, and by participation in OHM (Monitoring Center Man – Environment: Mining Basin of Provence, Coast, Valley of the Rhône), and especially in the LABEX OT-MED

3 which has launched a " Big City " programme for Marseille, of which the MC3-Network

project is a key component. The LPED also participates in the LABEX Med4 program "The social sciences at the

heart of the interdisciplinary in the Mediterranean Sea" and in research projects on the environment - city interface with other laboratories. In addition, there is high potential in the numerous observatories around the Mediterranean Sea, although the problem of climate change in urban zones is still not taken into account. European Networks such as CAT-MED or "The Mediterranean City 2014" also focus on the search for a model of sustainable urban development. Other programmes such as MISTRAL or the Blue Plan, although focused resolutely on climate change, take into account to some extent the intra-urban question in a general but rather sector-based way (energy, tourism, coastal zone, etc.).

1 http://lped.org/-Observatoires-Societe-.html

2 http://www.pytheas.univ-amu.fr/

3 http://www.otmed.fr/

4 http://labexmed.mmsh.univ-aix.fr/Pages/home.aspx


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The AIM

To position the laboratories of Aix Marseille University as a core element in a Mediterranean

network for research on the city planning - climate change interface.

Secondary aims 1 – To develop partnerships with research institutions, monitoring centers and networks in the Mediterranean

region, with a view to exchanging experiences and developing new research programs; 2 – To develop strategies for institutional relations between observatories and research laboratories on the

theme of city planning and climate change; 3 – To update and develop systems for the observation and knowledge of cities on the basis of targeted

programs; 4 – To generate a dynamic between partners for the development of a Euro-Mediterranean program on this

theme.

Scientific and Technical Work plan The work program is focused on three major issues:

Measurement systems for assessing climate change in the city, including the measurement of the contribution of the city to climate change and, inversely, the impact of global climate change on the intra-urban climate;

The integration of climate change issues in town planning policies, from the technical, normative, political and social points of view;

Mediterranean specificities in choices related to the Town planning - Climate change interface, that is the investigation of a town planning strategy closely related to the practices of society, including periurban strategies.

Every question is approached from a theoretical point of view, by compiling and comparing feedback from experiences, and on the basis of analysis of the stakeholders (institutions, experts and professionals) best qualified to play a role in a research network on this theme.

To implement this program, the work of the research teams will be based on three types of action:

A compilation of research experiences (academic part) and applications in city planning (professional practices), by identifying indicators and processes used for the understanding or the management of the climatic change - town planning interface;

Virtual writing workshops for collecting and summarizing the results of this compilation by several observatories; In parallel with these workshops, thematic seminars will be organized;

Collaborative research projects for the purpose of developing a Mediterranean programme on city and climatic change.


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AGAM, 2013. Marseille et la Méditerranée. Regards de l'AGAM 11: 12. Bonard Y. & L. Matthey, 2010. Les éco-quartiers: laboratoires de la ville durable. Changement de paradigme ou

éternel retour du même? Cybergeo : European Journal of Geography: 9. doi:DOI : 10.4000/cybergeo.23202

Bulkeley H., 2013. Cities and climate change. New York: Routledge, 280p. Calthorpe P., 2011. Urbanism in the age of climate change. Washington: Island Press, 138p. Cavin J. S. & D. Bourg, 2010. Deux conceptions de la durabilité urbaine: ville prométhéenne versus ville

orphique. Philosophie de l'environnement et milieux urbains. T. Paquot & C. Younès. Paris: Éditions la Découverte, 117-136p.

Chaline C., 2001. L'urbanisation et la gestion des villes dans les pays méditerranéens. Evaluation et perspectives d'un développement urbain durable: Commission Méditerranéenne du Développement Durable. PNUE - PAM - Plan Bleu - Programme d'Actions Prioritaires, 42p.

Clergeau P., 2012. Services écologiques et Trame Verte Urbaine. Vertigo Hors Série 12: 2-5. doi:DOI : 10.4000/vertigo.11834

Clergeau P. & N. Blanc, Eds., 2013. Trames vertes urbaines. De la recherche scientifique au projet urbain. Paris: Éditions Le Moniteur, 340p.

Colombert M., J.-L. Salagnac, D. Morand & Y. Diab, 2012. Le climat et la ville: la nécessité d'une recherche croisant les disciplines. Vertigo Hors Série 12: 2-13. doi:DOI : 10.4000/vertigo.1181

Delattre L. & C. Napoléone, 2001. Ecologiser les documents d’urbanisme pour protéger les terres agricoles et les espaces naturels. Courrier de l'Environnement de l'INRA 60: 63-71.

Desjardins X., 2011. Pour l'atténuation du changement climatique, quelle est la contribution possible de l'aménagement du territoire? Cybergeo : European Journal of Geography Document 523: 19. doi:DOI : 10.4000/cybergeo.23531

Desplat J., M. Lauffenburger, J. L. Salagnac, R. Kounkou-Arnaud, A. Lemonsu, M. Colombert & V. Masson, 2009. Projet EPICEA, étude pluridisciplinaire des impacts du changement climatique à l'échelle de l'agglomération parisienne. Fifth Urban Research Symposium, June 28-30, 2009, Marseille, World Bank: 9p

Djellouli Y., C. Emelianoff, A. Bennasr & J. Chevalier, Eds., 2010. L'étalement urbain. Un processus incontrôlable? Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 258p.

Mancebo F., 2011. La ville durable est-elle soluble dans le changement climatique? Environnement Urbain 5: 1-9.

Mills G., 2007. Cities as agents of global change. International Journal of Climatology 27: 1849-1857. Napoléone C. & G. Geniaux, 2009. Influences urbaines et protection des espaces naturels et agricoles.

Innovations Agronomiques 5: 13-26. Oke T. R., 1973. City size and the urban heat island. Atmospheric Environment 7(8): 769-779. Plan-Bleu, 2012. Un diagnostic de la situation des villes méditerranéennes. Contribution au groupe de travail

urbain du Secrétariat de l'Union pour la Méditerranée: Vers une stratégie urbaine durable Euro-Méditerranéenne (SUDEM) dans le cadre de l'Union pour la Méditerranée P.-P.-P. Bleu, 13p.

Revi A., D. Satterthwaite & (coord.), 2014. Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Working Group II contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report. Yokohama: IPCC Working Group II Technical Support Unit (TSU),

Satterthwaite D., 2013. The political underpinning of cities' accumulated resilience to climate change. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society - A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 369(1942): 1762-1783.

Theys J. & C. Emelianoff, 2001. Les contradictions de la ville durable. Le Débat 2001/1 - nº113: 122-135. United-Nations, 2011a. Revealing Risk, Redefining Development: the 2011 Global Assessment Report on

Disaster Risk Reduction. Geneva: United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, 178p. United-Nations, 2011b. Cities and Climate Change. Global report on human settlements. London, Washington:

Earthscan U. N. H. S. P. (UN-Habitat), 300p. Zasada I., 2011. Multifunctional peri-urban agriculture – A review of societal demands and the provision of

goods and services by farming. Land Use Policy 28: 639-648.


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Task 1: Coordination of the network of partners The aim of this first task is to constitute a network of partners in the Mediterranean region based mainly on urban observatories. In this partnership, we shall be looking for both research competence in the relevant field, but also real first-hand experience-based knowledge in the field and active cooperation with public and private sector managers for the development of city planning programmes.

Working methodology:

1 - Meeting of the initial core members involving OPEU - Marseille, EPAU and CREAD Algiers, INAU Rabat, Urban Observatory of Istanbul, to draft a charter of cooperation.

2 - Establishing contacts with the programmes and the observatories of the Mediterranean region (see V-International Partnership) and signature of a cooperation charter.

3 - Coordination of the network and development of an internet blog, and collaborative tools (virtual workshops, databases).

This task will be undertaken in close collaboration with the axis TWP1- Observation systems and databases, and the LABEX OT-MED "Big City" programme. All the information generated in this programme MC3 will be integrated into these two schemes.

Deliverables: Cooperation charters signed with the other institutions. Directory of the urban observatories in

the Mediterranean region. Collaborative Web site. Final report.

Task 2: Measurement systems of climate change in the city The aim of this second task is to estimate the capability of Mediterranean cities and the associated observatories to estimate the extent of climatic change at a fine scale (useful for the urban planning programmes), as well as to determine suitable indicators for urban management. The experimental devices, the indicators and the programmes will be analyzed here with every institution, monitoring center or community measuring climatic parameters, carbon assessments, urban biodiversity, processes of erosion coastal, energy balances, pollution levels, etc., in the urban and periurban areas. Selected indicators will be either direct (measurement of the climate and modelling) or indirect (dynamics of the species or ecosystems, alteration of practices, health related dynamics, etc.) and should reflect the two-fold impact city - climate and climate - city. This task will attempt to provide answers to the following three questions:

How can we measure climate change in the city?

Are there networks offering effective measurement?

What are the most useful parameters for urban management?

Working methodology: 1 - Survey of the state of the art regarding microclimatic measurement in urban zones, and its grading with

regard to international measurement networks. Critical assessment and discussion on indicators. 2 - Assessment survey on systems of measurement in urban agglomerations of the Mediterranean region,

and their integration in of urban management or city planning programmes. 3 - Drafting of a white paper focusing on the measurement systems, indicators and usages for urban

management 4 - Setting up of an international workgroup with the aim of formulating a proposition for the creation and

coordination of a Mediterranean network for urban measurement on climate, and a pool of general and specific indicators.

Deliverables: Survey of the state of the art regarding urban climatic measurement systems. White paper on

climate measurement and urban management. Proposition for the creation and coordination of a network. Methodological guide for use by urban authorities.


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Task 3: Climate change and urban planning

Four dynamics should be envisaged with regard to the climate change - town planning interface:

Innovations in architecture: construction techniques, materials, housing design, components, etc.

The organization of the infrastructure environment: spacing, layout, presence of green spaces, accessibility, public transport, etc.

The organization of the city: compactness, road system and transport, green belts, corridors, uses, etc.

The contribution of the periurban zone in the development of ecosystem services. While architects have thoroughly mastered the first aspect, the other two are relatively little known with regard to practices and impact. It is consequently important to take these practices into account from the points of view of:

techniques: construction, organisation, town planning;

policy: standards, legislation and rules of town planning, including the concerns of public and private sector stakeholders public regarding climate change issues;

social: perception and acceptability, for which the questions of urban and periurban practices must of necessity be taken into account.

This task involves working on a compilation of experiences in these domains, whether in the context of projects, or studies and research, or realizations having had a positive or negative impact.

Working methodology: 1 – Survey of the state of the art regarding the integration of climate change issues in the programmes and

the regulation of town planning in the Mediterranean countries; 2 - Analysis of some projects and programmes (Study of specific cases); 3 - Constitution of a think-tank focusing on intervention in the face of the impact of climate change.

Drafting of a proposal for a European programme.

Deliverables: Survey of the state of the art regarding climate change and urban practices in Mediterranean

cities.

Task 4: The Mediterranean and the interface

The aim of this Task is to produce an initial report on the previous tasks, focused on the analysis of Mediterranean specificities in the understanding and regulation of the impact of climate change in urban zones. It will take the form of two seminars organized with the aim of drafting a joint survey report:

Urban Climate Change: concept and measurement;

Examining Mediterranean urbanism through the perspective of climate change. All the subjects referred to previously, with regard to both their technical, town planning, political and social aspects, will be examined in a Mediterranean context in order to understand the specificities and the constraints. These seminars will be organized by the partners signatory to the charter, in association with the public and private sector stakeholders responsible for urban organizations. All members of the project will be represented at both seminars.

Working methodology: One seminar more specifically focused on the climate issues and the indicators of climate change;

One seminar more specifically focused on the question of the climate - urban planning interface, taking into account the issues of the scale of intervention and of public policy, within a Mediterranean context.

Deliverables: Results (Contribution of the participants and reports) of the seminars. A joint survey report. A

European project proposal.


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International Partnerships This programme is entirely based on the development of partnerships between the two sides of the Mediterranean. It will start with a partnership already established between the OPEU, LABEX OT-MED and 4 Mediterranean area organisations:

L'École Polytechnique d'Architecture et d'Urbanisme d'Alger (EPAU - Polytechnic school of Architecture and Urbanism)

5.

Le Centre de Recherche en Économie Appliquée au Développement (CREAD - The Research Centre on Applied Economy)

6.

l'Institut National d'Aménagement et d'Urbanisme du Maroc (INAU - National Institute on Planning and Urbanism)

7.

L'Observatoire Urbain d'Istanbul8 (Urban Observatory of Istanbul), part of l'Institut Français d'Étude

Anatolienne (French Institute on Anatolien Studies). In Marseille, the laboratories associated with the LABEX OT-MED, the LABEX DRIIHM and the OSU-Institut Pytheas will be mobilized, in particular :

The TWP1 of OT MED (Observation Systems and Databases)

CEREGE (measurement of climate at meso-scale, water resources and coastal erosion)

The INRA Avignon (land use stakeholders and public management of land use change)

The ECCOREV federation with in particular the OHM Bassin Minier de Provence

The coastal OHM

The School of Architecture We will seek to establish an association with Lab'Urba at Paris Est university, integrated within the

LABEX "Futurs Urbains" (Urban Futures) and specialising in questions of town planning and the environment in the city, in particular in Europe.

Others, depending on the findings of the inventory. In the Mediterranean, networks and observatories will be linked to develop exchanges and propose a common framework of analysis:

PAYS.MED.URBAIN (Virtual observatory of the Mediterranean urban landscape – European project Spain - Italy)

Euro Mediterranean Observatory

AVITEM

CAT-MED – Sustainable urban model

MedCities (Barcelona)

Plan Bleu

EURO Cities

Urban Observatory of Beirut

Urbanization Observatory - UAB - Barcelona

Algiers Observatory: launch announced for July 2014.

National Agency for Climate Change, Algiers (Mr KARA Mustapha Kamel, founder member of the GIEC).

Regional Urban Observatory for Greater Tunis (AUGT)

Contemporary Cairo Urban Observatory (OUCC - CEDEJ)

UN-Habitat, Cities and Climate Change division And others

For each participating city, we will attempt to associate the territorial authorities responsible for town planning, both in order to take into account the issues of climate change in their programs of action, and also to test with them possible scenarios for action.

5 http://www.vuddlabo.org/

6 http://www.cread.edu.dz/

7 http://www.inau.ac.ma/siteinauFr/index.asp?page=/siteinauFr/administration/presentation_inau.asp

8 http://oui.hypotheses.org/


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MC3-Network: Mediterranean Cities and Climate Change.

A Mediterranean Network for Urbanism and Climate Change

Contact: Hubert Mazurek [email protected] +33 413550817

MC3-Network: Mediterranean Cities and Climate Change.

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Transcript of MC3-Network: Mediterranean Cities and Climate Change.