Research Projects

Metropolises are often viewed as inherently incapable of meeting the demands of ecological transition, leading to their systematic disqualification in this regard. The POPSU Grand Paris platform challenges this assumption by directly addressing the complex relationship between ecological transition and metropolitan trajectories. This project aims to explore the conditions under which a metropolitan ecological transition can be realised.

The SENOVIE project investigates breast cancer among women who migrate to access healthcare services. Conducted across France (Île-de-France), West Africa (Mali, Benin), and Southeast Asia (Cambodia), the research focuses on the drivers behind these migrations, the resulting biographical ruptures, and individual trajectories.

This participatory research-creation project examines the employment–housing relationship within the logistics sector in the Île-de-France region.

The primary objective of EVER-CAN is to study the associations between proximity to urban green spaces and the risk of developing cancer, using data from the French E3N cohort.

This project aims to document the diverse modes of managing public spaces that lead to the displacement of populations labelled as "undesirable". It examines the normative frameworks alongside their practical applications at various scales and across a range of field sites throughout France.

Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) levels frequently exceed World Health Organization (WHO) guideline values in many French territories. These transport-related pollutant emissions are targeted by Low Emission Zones (ZFE-m or ZFE), which restrict vehicle circulation within defined areas based on technical and administrative criteria. The project explores the socially differentiated impacts of these zones and investigates how public institutions perceive, anticipate, or alternatively overlook and choose to ignore these effects.

The FILOPLA project seeks to specify the role of local property taxation in the production of affordable housing, taking into account different territorial contexts.

This project analyses and models climate change adaptation trajectories, focusing on urban cooling strategies. By studying the planning and implementation of cooling solutions across eight municipalities of varying sizes and climates, FreshWay examines how urban areas adapt to heat and heatwave impacts driven by climate change.

This participatory action research is conducted in partnership with Médecins du Monde’s psychological support service for exiled persons in Paris and Lab’Urba.

This project involves an oral archives campaign to create a documentary collection preserving the historical traces of the origins and early years of the Grand Paris Express project. Based on a research question developed at the project’s inception, it aims to record 50 video testimonies following established historical standards. The resulting archive will be deposited at the French National Archives.

The Gestion et régulation transfrontalières de l’urbanisation diffuse (GeRTrUD) project develops a comparative approach to the challenges and regulatory processes of urban sprawl in the cross-border metropolitan areas of Bayonne, Geneva, Lille, Luxembourg, and Strasbourg.

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the ADAPT4 project focuses on cities’ capacity to adapt and anticipate in order to mitigate the impacts of such shocks while maintaining the dynamism of their complex flows. The objective is to derive a set of “lessons” at multiple scales to promote proactive adaptability. New York, London, Paris, and Tokyo are the main case studies.

Characterising, Preserving, and Restoring Soil Quality: Which Indicators? This study aims to conduct a state-of-the-art review of scientific knowledge regarding the indicators necessary to measure soil quality in relation to land use, with a view to informing the implementation of public soil preservation policies.

Work remains the primary reason for travel, accounting for 45% of distances covered (commuting and work-related travel). Mobility practices linked to work (company vehicles, air travel) heavily influence industrial choices. This research addresses two key questions: how can companies contribute to the necessary reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and how can public authorities support them in this effort?

The IACH project aims to develop methods and tools to foster AI literacy and critical appropriation among non-expert audiences, specifically applied to the humanities and social sciences.

The CABaS project is a participatory action research initiative focused on the living environment (food availability, health, green spaces, housing, health-supportive urban planning) and on the attention given to suburban territories and their residents through the concept of care. This research is intended to be conducted collaboratively with residents as well as elected officials and professional stakeholders from various municipalities. Building on previous work, it seeks to develop a reflection on the methodologies and positionalities required for such research. Lastly, the project examines the replicability and transferability of participatory action research methodologies.

This research project explores how the Covid-19 crisis contributed to the transformation of public and associative action regarding cycling mobility in the Île-de-France region. It also investigates the role of health concerns in the implementation of public policies promoting cycling in response to the (post)pandemic context. Finally, the project analyses how changes in infrastructure, public policies, and cycling promotion efforts aimed at the general public differ across scales and territories.

Led by the interdisciplinary group “City and Energy” within the Labex Futurs Urbains, this project aims to explore the notion of energy de-escalation through an empirical approach grounded in a situational study of ongoing energy-related processes. The primary case study is the Cité Descartes campus, with the project adopting the perspective of articulating energy de-escalation issues through multiple organised events, thereby contributing to changes in everyday practices and social perceptions of these issues.

Since the 2016 modernisation law of the French health system, Territorial Professional Health Communities (Communautés Professionnelles Territoriales de Santé, CPTS) have emerged as a new organisational model for private healthcare professionals (physicians, nurses, dentists, etc.) in coordination with hospitals. This framework aims to bring together all healthcare professionals working within the CPTS territory to collaborate on a common project. What motivates or hinders healthcare professionals from joining a CPTS? On which projects do they reach consensus? How does this new structuring contribute to reducing social and territorial health inequalities? These are some of the key questions this project seeks to address.

The Solaris project examines how climate change adaptation policies, specifically those related to flood and marine submersion risk management, identify and address socio-spatial inequalities. This issue is explored through two local case studies in each of the four countries analysed: France, England, Belgium, and Finland.

Sustainable development, local authorities, and financial sustainability. With the participation of Francesca Artioli and Françoise Navarre.

The Urban Natures Interdisciplinary Group of the Labex Futurs Urbains brought together researchers — several of whom are members of Lab’Urba — from a diverse range of scientific disciplines (anthropology, sociology, ecology, geography, hydrology, etc.) around a common research theme: “Urban Natures.”

Is the concept of landscape still relevant in urban environments, especially in the quintessential city of Chicago? Architect and researcher Jennifer Buyck investigates ways to reconnect the living environment with urban space in the Anthropocene era. Traversing rivers with her camera in hand, she explores how these waterways played a crucial role in shaping the city and how they could play an equally significant role in the forthcoming ecological transition.

The project Organisations Alternatives de la Citoyenneté Nord-Sud (Alternative Citizenship Organisations North-South), funded by I-Site FUTURE, aims to study how citizens engage in and experiment with innovative forms of action in response to environmental and social issues.

RESYSTER (Resilience of Systems and Territories) was funded under an internal call for projects by UrbaRiskLab focusing on the health crisis. It led to the creation of a serious game designed to stimulate exchanges among stakeholders involved in managing the COVID crisis within a given territory and to foster dialogue with researchers in order to produce a shared feedback experience.

Building on previous research on the history of parcels in France, this project aims to trace the recent history of the postal parcel delivery sector since the 1980s. The sector has undergone profound changes characterised by scale shifts, notably the internationalisation of structures, the rise of logistics strategies, and the evolution of management tools and parcel processing systems.

This project focused on understanding and comparing the growth coalitions formed around Disney theme parks and their associated developments in Anaheim, California, and Marne-la-Vallée, France.

Centred on the establishment of both a student cohort and a general population cohort, the E-city research-action program aims to better understand the impact of the environment and individual or collective behaviours on health trajectories, support public policy, and empower individuals to take an active role in their own health.

Wealth Inequalities and the Dynamics of the Housing Market
How do welfare state reforms (capitalisation and household assets), market volatility, and inflation affect the geography of inequalities in housing markets? Since the 1990s, housing prices have risen faster than incomes, becoming a factor of polarisation and vulnerability. Within the Wisdhom project, the relationship between socio-spatial inequality and market capitalisation, instability, and vulnerability is analysed.

The challenges of a changing climate increase the need to support municipalities, citizens and companies in the process towards a zero-carbon future. The transition to a carbon neutral city or municipality cannot be achieved by local decision makers alone but must include a multitude of actors.

The working worlds of logistics: a visual and comparative ethnography behind the scenes of global cities. Logistics, dedicated to organising the transportation and handling of manufactured goods from extraction sites to points of consumption, destruction, or recycling, occupies an interface position between industry and services, represents an essential function for urban supply, and today employs 13% of French workers and 17% of German workers. WORKLOG analyses the residential, provisioning, and leisure practices shared by workers in this sector.

The ORME (Observatory for Research on Mega-Events) is a multi-laboratory and interdisciplinary platform bringing together researchers working on Paris 2024. Its objective is to stimulate, support, develop, and promote research on mega-events and their evaluation.