Sustainable development and urban fabric
| Benoit Lefevre; Vincent Renard |
| Idées pour le débat / Working Papers N°08/2011. Iddri, 2011. 16 p. |
An article written by Benoit Lefèvre and Vincent Renard, examining urban sustainable development policies.
Highlights :
THE CITY AT THE HEART OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Today, the objective of sustainability, urban or otherwise, must be considered in a context dominated by climate change and its impacts. It must be remembered that the construction and functioning of cities is responsible for 75% of CO2 emissions, and the share of urban dwellers in the total population is expected to reach 70% by 2020. It is therefore fair to say that the drive to take climate change into account and to implement sustainable development will come from cities or will not come at all.
ANTICIPATING AND SUPPORTING URBANISM
How can we ensure that urban policies fully take on board this situation? How could policy guidelines for sustainable cities be drawn up? Beyond the opposition between sprawl and density, between regulation and deregulation, and an acceptance that “demiurgic” urbanism has been brought to an end through “market dictatorship”, we still have to ascertain ways that populations can “live together” and to define the rules on how this is achieved. We must now consider the relationships between density, functional and social diversity, urban forms and mobility in order to anticipate, stimulate, encourage and support, through coordinated policies of urban planning and transportation, some spatial and territorial dynamics that are adaptable and sustainable.
THE GRENELLE ENVIRONMENT FORUM, AN OPPORTUNITY FOR URBAN SUSTAINABILITY?
Acts I and II of the Grenelle de l’Environnement (Grenelle Environment Forum), a major environmental initiative by the French government, are part of this framework, as their purpose is to search for a different growth model. However, based on a profusion of new categories of plans and programmes, the legal nature of which is sometimes unclear, and on a very wide range of financial and fiscal instruments, few measures are effectively and directly applicable. In addition, the process, which is nonbinding and mostly optional, depends largely on the willingness of local communities. In this respect, certain neighbouring countries, such as Germany or the Netherlands, offer valuable lessons on how to re-establish urban planning at the appropriate level, i.e. that of the urban territory, and to coordinate the various aspects of urban development.
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