Inside the intricacies of local budgets

To study this long-term evolution of public environmental policy, the research draws on the tools and analytical frameworks of geography, spatial planning, political economy and political ecology, as well as those of the political sociology of action and public finance. The research methodology is based on the use of ‘mixed’ methods. A typological study of the budgetary configurations of urban inter-municipal clusters, cross-referenced with the socio-territorial characteristics of these areas, enables us to identify the defining features of urban austerity as it is being implemented in mainland France. Six inter-municipal clusters, representative of the diversity of these configurations and thus allowing for generalisation, are the subject of a qualitative investigation. Various ‘nodes’ linking aspirations for ecological sustainability and budgetary frugality are analysed: budgetary practices, organisational structures and administrative routines, investment policies, the management of public assets and, finally, strategies for securing funding for projects designed to be ‘green’. In addition to this, focus groups are organised with elected representatives, technical staff and experts in order to enrich and consolidate the findings.

Results: Environmental policies in the context of fiscal consolidation

The research reveals the roll-out of a new territorial regime of fiscal consolidation. Local authorities are evolving not only to implement cross-cutting environmental policies, but also to consolidate their accounts, by navigating funding competitions and forging partnerships with better-capitalised public and private funders. This is accompanied by a screening and recalibration of environmental policies according to their compliance with the standards and ratios that underpin a regime of fiscal consolidation. Thus, the greening of urban policies under austerity takes the form of a patchwork of ad hoc measures, dependent on funding opportunities – in other words, a ‘piecemeal’ approach to environmental policy.

Scientific output

The research has resulted in around ten publications and as many academic papers. An article published in the political sociology journal Politix explores the redefinition of relations between central government and local authorities in the context of local account consolidation, by examining a controversy over budgetary standards that reflects an intergovernmental balance of power. Another article, published in the international journal Regional Studies, explores the geographies of local austerity. It demonstrates the widespread yet diverse nature of this phenomenon, particularly in relation to specific socio-territorial characteristics. Finally, the book based on this research, published in 2026 by Presses de Sciences Po, presents the findings of a decade-long study highlighting how the regime of budgetary consolidation shapes environmental policies and places the ‘green city with its back against the wall’.

The article INVEST first appeared on LATTS - Laboratory for Territorial and Societal Techniques.

In this perspective, FinPlanet pursues three main scientific aims:

1. To map and explain the fragmentation of geographical studies of financialization,
2. To enhance, validate, and test the concept of “planetary financialization”,
3. To describe, analyze and interpret the dialectic articulation between financial markets and socio-ecological relationships.

FinPlanet integrates three main types of research operations:

1. Production of several state-of-the-arts with different methods, including a systematic literature review frame applied to social sciences;
2. Conceptual and theoretical elaboration based on workshops and brainstorming studios;
3. Empirical case studies research at both national and local levels, in Brazil and France.

The article FINPLANET first appeared on LATTS - Laboratory for Territorial and Societal Techniques.

An assessment of efforts to promote energy-efficient refurbishment shows that there are significant discrepancies between predicted energy efficiency and actual post-refurbishment figures. Taking into account residents’ specific circumstances and their practical expertise in energy-efficient refurbishment projects therefore appears to be fundamental. Whilst the concept of ‘user expertise’ had already emerged during the 1990s, in recent years we have witnessed the emergence of a field known as User Control Assistance (AMU), driven by professionals from a wide range of backgrounds (architects, designers, sociologists, etc.) who offer services in this area or respond to requests from urban project owners, particularly in the housing sector.

This PhD project aims to contribute to a better understanding of the growing interest in AMU practices amongst a variety of operators and professionals. It will examine how this type of service is viewed by its initiators, as well as the outcomes it produces.

The article Energy-efficiency renovation processes and surveys of residents’ usage patterns first appeared on LATTS - Laboratory for Territorial and Societal Techniques.

Keywords: Electricity infrastructure – Public-private investment – Territorial transition – Land use – Energy justice – Geo-legal approach – Geo-visualisation – Citizen science

Photo credit: E. Santoire, 2025, Boissise-la-Bertrand solar park (77)

The article I.JET.IDF first appeared on LATTS - Laboratory for Territorial and Societal Techniques.

The article Climate-controlled urbanism: understanding rationales, modes and implications of microclimatic enclosure first appeared on LATTS - Laboratory for Territorial and Societal Techniques.

The scientific objective of the project is to develop an innovative, robust and open-source digital simulation tool for generating usage scenarios, capable of:

• Modelling household behaviour on an hourly basis over a full year.
• Incorporating recent changes in lifestyles (working from home, energy efficiency, adaptation to energy prices, etc.).
• Manage and characterise the uncertainty associated with usage patterns in the simulations.
• Provide a comprehensive and robust representation of the diversity of household behaviour.

The article ENRICO first appeared on LATTS - Laboratory for Territorial and Societal Techniques.

The article What kind of sustainable professional ecosystem is needed for solar energy workers in Africa? first appeared on LATTS - Laboratory for Territorial and Societal Techniques.

The article PACMAIN first appeared on LATTS - Laboratory for Territorial and Societal Techniques.