Urban Systems

This research area brings together scholars interested in collective action through the lens of the materiality and functioning of urban systems. It focuses on urban objects and socio-technical or socio-ecological systems at the scale of buildings, blocks, or neighbourhoods. Key areas of inquiry include technical networks and urban services, public spaces, buildings to be renovated, urban infrastructure, and soil systems — analysed through the concrete interventions of public and private actors engaged in advancing socio-ecological transitions. These transitions include areas such as energy systems, urban greening, climate adaptation, digitisation, and circularity. The theme places strong emphasis on developing decision-support tools (particularly through modelling), evaluating planning tools in light of transition and resilience objectives, and assessing operational processes from the earliest stages of urban transformation.

The axis’s seminar series pursues two interrelated goals: fostering collaboration and mutual understanding among researchers (with special attention to early-career scholars), and collectively and critically exploring concepts, methods, and theoretical frameworks aligned with its scientific aims.

Since January 2023, the group has centred its work around the concept of the nexus. This involves critically examining how the nexus framework can enhance our understanding of urban collective action, interrogate urban production processes, and illuminate socio-technical and socio-ecological reconfigurations. The researchers also explore how the notion is appropriated, challenged, and utilised — both in academic contexts and among practitioners and operational stakeholders.

Sabine Bognon : sabine.bognon@u-pec.fr

Margot Pellegrino : margot.pellegrino@univ-eiffel.fr