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The RESILIENCE Project

A transdisciplinary approach to evaluate urban planning strategies in the Marseille and Lille metropolitan areas, towards a sustainable, healthy and resilient city.

📍 Marseille & Lille ⏱ 60 months 💶 €5,256,590 (total cost) 🎓 PI: Barbara D'Anna (CNRS DR2)

Scientific summary

Healthy urban planning is about planning for and with people. Improving well-being and health, both human and environmental, requires consideration of multiple parameters such as socio-economic aspects, urban sprawl, mobility and exposure to pollution.

RESILIENCE will use an innovative transdisciplinary approach to evaluate the efficiency of a range of urban planning measures to improve living conditions, possible co-benefits and general public acceptance.

RESILIENCE is a bottom-up project developed in collaboration with local authorities and services of the Lille and Marseille metropolitan areas. These two contrasting territories provide a unique and perfect case study to compare methodologies and assess replicability.

7 Scientific Questions

RESILIENCE addresses five issues traditionally dealt with through partial and isolated approaches. Our interdisciplinary consortium has identified seven major scientific questions.

  1. Obstacles to implementation What are the main obstacles to implementing strategic plans towards a sustainable and healthy city? Inventory of renovation plans, Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) and LEZs.
  2. Evaluating ongoing strategies How to correctly evaluate ongoing urban strategies on multidisciplinary critical indicators? Quantification of impacts on air quality, carbon balance, thermal comfort, greening and ecological connectivity.
  3. Impact of planned strategies What are the impacts of planned strategies at different urban scales? Transdisciplinary modelling to extrapolate indicators to the metropolitan scale.
  4. Socio-environmental inequalities What are the socio-environmental health inequalities at neighbourhood scale? Assessment and mapping through multidimensional spatial analysis.
  5. Perception and acceptability What is the perception and acceptability of implemented actions, and what drives behavioural change? Citizen surveys and behavioural analysis.
  6. Co-benefits and future scenarios What are the co-benefits of cross-cutting strategies? What scenarios would lead to a sustainable and healthy city in the future? Testing of realistic scenarios.
  7. Replicability and recommendations What lessons can be extrapolated to other urban areas? What recommendations can be made to local authorities? Operational tools and guides.

4 Work Packages (WP)

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WP1 — Coordination

Administrative, financial and technical coordination. Stakeholder Advisory Board (SAB). Duration: M1–M60.

Lead : LCE

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WP2 — In-situ Investigations

Quantitative assessment of ongoing urban strategies: field campaigns, long-term observatories, citizen surveys. Duration: M1–M48.

Lead : LMA & IMBE

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WP3 — Multi-scale Simulations

Modelling and mapping of environmental indicators, health inequality assessment, co-benefit quantification. Duration: M1–M58.

Lead : LGCgE & IUSTI

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WP4 — Recommendations & Dissemination

Sustainable city scenarios, comparison of the two metropolises, operational tools, communication and dissemination. Duration: M1–M60.

Lead : LCE, CERI EE, TVES

Alignment with PEPR VDBI challenges

RESILIENCE addresses several urgent societal challenges highlighted in the PEPR Sustainable Cities and Innovative Buildings call:

Challenge 1
Climate change & biodiversity
Assessing the impact of NBS on UHIs, air quality and biodiversity
Challenge 2
Resilient city
Mobility transition assessment and vulnerability analysis
Challenge 4
Inclusive & equitable city
Developing determinants of environmental health inequalities
Challenge 5
Sustainable city, health & well-being
Assessing human exposure to air pollutants and UHIs