The development of renewable energy in urban areas is generating growing interest, both among professionals and the general public, in sharing locally generated energy. Achieving this objective often involves local energy initiatives.

Whilst the energy sector has previously sought to remain invisible within the urban landscape, the roll-out of such energy initiatives raises the question of how these projects are received by the urban fabric. In this thesis, we argue that these local energy initiatives contribute, in their own way, to bringing energy systems back into the urban landscape, as well as to reshaping its organisation and functioning.

The research is based on four case studies in three countries: Germany, France and the United Kingdom. The cases selected are the Colibres collaborative housing project in Forcalquier (France), the

The Klimakommune project in Saerbeck (Germany), the European Sensible electricity storage project in Nottingham (United Kingdom) and the Smartmagne collective self-consumption initiative in Marmagne (France). We are committed to understanding the making of these projects; that is to say, beyond the physical outcomes produced, we focus our analysis on the actors and the mechanisms of the action currently taking place.

The thesis presents three main findings. Whilst the term ‘energy community’ is used in both academic literature and national and European policy documents, we demonstrate that the concept of an ‘assembly’ is more appropriate for characterising the energy initiatives under consideration. Our subject of study is the relationship between actors (companies, researchers, residents’ groups, developers, local authorities, interest groups, etc.) and the technical and material elements of a specific energy project: ‘local and urban socio-energy assemblages’ (ASE-LU). Their links are not based on social or political affinities, but are generated by the pursuit of the project itself.

The various projects examined enable us to situate the effects produced within what we call the ‘ordinary urban fabric’. In other words, the cases observed—whose common objective can be described as the sharing of locally generated energy—have very little to do with large-scale development projects (ZACs, OINs, eco-neighbourhoods). Within this ordinary urban fabric, project leaders do not opt for socio-political confrontation to change regulations, laws and production conditions. Instead, they prefer to exploit the margins and loopholes left by the ordinary urban fabric to bring their project to fruition and transform it into a material and social reality.

Finally, we discuss a possible link between our case studies and the commons. ASE-LUs transcend the traditional distinctions (which shape the urban fabric) between property rights and rights of use, between the private and the public, and between the primacy of the public interest and the pursuit of partial or individual interests. They face the same challenges as urban and/or energy commons: legal obstacles, and the exploitation of loopholes and gaps. They give rise to social organisations and spatio-technical systems that challenge, at the very least, the traditional legal and social structures of both the energy sector and the urban fabric.

Members of the jury

• Xavier Bonnaud, Professor of Architecture at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris-La-Villette and the École Polytechnique, and co-supervisor of a PhD thesis
• Gilles Debizet, Senior Lecturer, Université Grenoble-Alpes, rapporteur
• Bernard Declève, professor at the Catholic University of Louvain, rapporteur
• Sinda Haouès-Jouve, Senior Lecturer, Toulouse Jean Jaurès University, examiner
• Sylvy Jaglin, lecturer at the University of Paris-Est, examiner
• Fanny Lopez, Senior Lecturer, Paris-Est School of Urban and Regional Architecture, examiner
• Florence Rudolf, Professor at the National Institute of Applied Sciences in Strasbourg, examiner
• Jean Sonnet, Technical Director at Omexom, VINCI Energies, guest speaker
• Taoufik Souami, lecturer at the University of Paris-Est, PhD supervisor

This thesis examines urbanisation processes in Indonesia’s non-urban districts (kabupaten) and the local government policies designed to address the demands of urbanisation in their regions whilst responding to the constraints of territorial urbanisation. The aim is to examine these Indonesian urban development policies in terms of their characteristics and strategies for addressing the problems caused by rapid territorial urbanisation, particularly in light of the prospects and imperatives of sustainable urban development, conceived as a new development ethic.

More broadly, with reference to the situation of the kabupaten in Indonesia, this thesis aims to contribute to an understanding of the mechanisms of urban development in small and medium-sized towns in developing countries.

The study comprises two main parts. The first concerns the process of urbanisation in the kabupaten, particularly on the island of Java, the most densely populated island in the archipelagic state, and the first to experience, from the 1980s onwards, this territorial dimension of urbanisation, which led to an increase in the urban population of the kabupaten. Secondly, this study seeks to understand the main issues arising in the urbanisation process of the kabupaten, particularly from the perspective of sustainable development.

Based on the comparative findings from the analysis of urban development institutions in the kabupaten, the aim was to examine local perceptions of urban development, the policies adopted to address the issues, and the shortcomings of urban development policies at the local level.

In doing so, the research examines the conditions necessary for potentially enhancing local capacities to manage their urbanisation and urban development processes, ensuring these are aligned with local realities and responsive to issues of sustainable development.

Members of the jury

• Charles Goldblum (ed.), Professor Emeritus, University of Paris 8
• Sabine Barles (ed.), Professor (HDR), University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne,
• Rodolphe de Koninck (rapporteur), Full Professor, CETASE, University of Montreal
• Manuelle Franck (rapporteur), university professor (HDR), President of INALCO
• Sylvy Jaglin (examiner), Professor, Université Paris-Est, Director of the ‘City, Transport and Territories’ Doctoral School

The 1990s and 2000s were marked, in many sub-Saharan African countries, by the adoption of neoliberal policies reputed to be conducive to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Senegal and Tanzania are no exception. In the electricity sector, low electrification rates, on the one hand, and the inability of public operators to rapidly expand the conventional grid, on the other, led their governments to undertake institutional reforms characterised by the liberalisation of the sector and the creation of agencies dedicated to rural electrification. Once the preserve of large national or international operators, rural electrification is now open to smaller private operators. Coupled with a reduction in administrative burdens and new sources of funding, liberalisation is benefiting decentralised solutions (mini-grids and solar kits in particular).

The result, in both countries, is a diversification of electricity supply models based on a variety of mechanisms, actors, resources and governance models, which coexist at the local level and which the research analyses as co-production arrangements. Through a multi-scale comparative study conducted in Senegal and Tanzania in areas of diffuse urbanisation, the thesis proposes a conceptual framework and a methodology for rethinking the nature and conditions of the provision of an essential service based on the heterogeneous arrangements observed. It thus draws on the notion of local supply configurations to adopt a cross-cutting approach to the range of existing electrification solutions, understand their interdependencies and examine the conditions for the potential regulation of the various modes of electricity supply at this scale.

By combining a socio-technical approach to the configurations of electricity supply with a socio-economic approach to local electricity markets, this thesis proposes a conceptualisation of the emerging geographies of electricity supply in regions characterised by rapid and diffuse urbanisation. On the one hand, it demonstrates that neoliberal electrification policies have led to a diversification of the electricity supply, better suited to the diversity of demand, to an average increase in coverage and access rates in these areas, and to an improvement – at least partial – in the quality of services provided as a result of market competition. On the other hand, it highlights the limitations of these policies and their market-driven logic, which result in an increase in socio-spatial inequalities at all levels and the exclusion of the poorest from any form of access to electricity. An analysis of these pitfalls highlights the need for regulatory mechanisms, the premises of which – still fragile and disparate – are examined in this thesis. By questioning who receives which service and where, it finally outlines avenues for reflection on what the transition towards a future essential (public) electricity service might look like in these changing urban environments.

Composition of the jury

• Ms Sylvy JAGLIN, Gustave Eiffel University, PhD supervisor
• Ms Pascale TROMPETTE, Université Grenoble Alpes, Rapporteur
• Ms Luisa Moretto, Free University of Brussels, Rapporteur
• Mr Eric VERDEIL, Sciences Po Paris, Examiner
• Mr Philippe LAVIGNE DELVILLE, IRD, Examiner
• Mr Bruno VALFREY, Hydroconseil, Guest

Crisis management exercises, which originated in the military, are now common practice in civil society. In recent history, their number and visibility have increased significantly, particularly in the context of the state’s response to the 2015 terrorist attacks. They are therefore one of the main tools used by crisis management organisations to prepare for events that threaten the public.

To fulfil this mission, the exercises are designed as crisis simulations that are as realistic as possible, with the dual aim of providing training and identifying weaknesses in crisis management systems that need to be addressed. However, observation of the exercises organised by the General Secretariat of the Paris Defence and Security Zone – a department of the Paris Police Prefecture – allows these objectives to be verified only partially.

To explain this apparent difficulty, one must consider the overlapping of two objectives assigned to these exercises. The first, the official one, focuses on protecting the population. The second, though implicit, is a priority: it involves protecting the state, whose very legitimacy and identity – which are, in fact, founded on the protection of the population – are called into question by the onset of crises.

Composition of the jury:

• Pascal Ughetto, Professor, Gustave Eiffel University, Chair of the jury
• Valérie November, Research Director, CNRS, PhD Supervisor and Examiner
• Olivier Borraz, Research Director, CNRS, PhD supervisor and examiner
• Myriam Mokhtari Merad, Research Director, CNRS, Examiner and Rapporteur
• Paolo Crivellari, Senior Lecturer, University of Toulouse 3, Examiner and Rapporteur
• Marie-Léandre Gomez, Professor, ESSEC, Examiner

A major flood of the Seine is the main so-called ‘natural’ risk in the Île-de-France region. By severely disrupting the networks that underpin the Île-de-France metropolitan area (public transport, road traffic, electricity, telecommunications, water, sewerage, district heating, etc.), such an event would have serious consequences for economic, social and political life. To prepare for this, public authorities and private sector stakeholders organise crisis management exercises during which they jointly simulate a flood and the implementation of their emergency procedures.

During these exercises, the stakes go far beyond simply training crisis teams. Understanding of the risks is enhanced, public awareness is raised, and coordination between the relevant stakeholders is improved. During and alongside the exercise, stakeholders redefine their roles, areas of responsibility and priorities, both in times of crisis and in normal circumstances. The aim of this research is therefore to examine crisis management exercises beyond the simulation phase, in order to understand their full impact across the Île-de-France region.

Since the early 2010s, the term ‘daily-use’ has replaced ‘suburb’ in certain political discourse to refer to local railway stations in the Île-de-France region. Unlike ‘sensitive neighbourhoods’ or ‘urban areas’, the expression ‘everyday stations’ appears, at first glance, to be much more of a new, fashionable turn of phrase than an established political or administrative category.

Nevertheless, this issue has emerged in the public debate at a particular juncture – against the backdrop of the Grand Paris Express project – as if spurred on by a number of stakeholders whose strategies and ideals appear, at first glance, to converge, and is accompanied by a wave of construction work that is quite unprecedented in the stations of these networks.
Furthermore, the ‘everyday’ cannot be equated with the same images or values as the ‘suburbs’.

In this respect, this shift cannot be considered coincidental. Drawing on an analysis of the representations conveyed by various forms of narratives from stakeholders on the one hand, and an exploration of the stations and the projects concerning them in the Seine Aval region on the other, this thesis aims to reveal the ruptures that enable the emergence of ‘everyday’ stations as a new category within Greater Paris, the meanings that run through it, and the transformations it entails. Its ambition is thus to discuss more broadly the imaginary functions of categorisation in the construction of urban spaces.

In doing so, this study offers a fresh perspective on the contemporary history of urban planning in the Île-de-France region through the lens of ‘everyday life’, and from this angle reveals certain shifts in the relationship between transport and urban planning stakeholders and the ‘suburbs’ and their inhabitants, as well as in the professional divisions and power dynamics at play.

Members of the jury

• Xavier Desjardins, University Professor, Paris-Sorbonne University
• Jacques Peynot, Director of Stations for the Île-de-France region, SNCF (guest)
• Antoine Picon, Research Director, École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (Director)
• Paola Pucci, Professor, Politecnico di Milano (rapporteur)
• Olivier Ratouis, University Professor, University of Paris-Nanterre (rapporteur)
• Nathalie Roseau, Associate Professor, École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (co-supervisor)

Europe’s major urban infrastructure networks – whether water or district heating networks – face a twofold challenge: adapting to a general demographic decline that limits the number of users, and a overall reduction in individual consumption. My PhD project seeks to gain an insider’s understanding of the adaptation strategies implemented by the companies managing these networks, in order to better identify their functional transformation and assess its effects on the areas they serve. The aim is to examine this transformation through a critical analysis of Marvin and Graham’s theory of ‘splintering urbanism’.

This thesis analyses how the financialisation of real estate, as exemplified by Listed Real Estate Investment Companies (SIICs), on the one hand, and sustainable development, on the other, point to the social construction of new frameworks. The question is whether or not they are compatible with one another, and what compromises and convergence of interests their tension gives rise to. The aim of this work is also to examine how they interact in the shaping of the city. The study of each of these concepts is not yet established, and part of the thesis work has consisted of clarifying what defines their use.

Indeed, we approach the subject of our research through the lens of management sciences, drawing in particular on theories of financial value creation and corporate governance, and through the analysis of valuation and reporting tools. Here, sustainable development is viewed more as a market for ‘standards’ that guarantee a building’s environmental quality. We hypothesise that property companies are compelled by public policy on sustainable development to adopt various strategies: to anticipate it, comply with it, circumvent it, or reinterpret it.

Sustainable development can thus also be understood in terms of new rules of the game, values and personal beliefs. This thesis demonstrates that corporate risk management and strategic opportunism are part of the interplay between the financialisation of commercial property and the implementation of measures influenced by the concept of sustainable urban development. New forms of intervention, regulation and social compromise have emerged.

Introduced in France in 1976, the ‘Avoid, Reduce, Compensate’ (ERC) framework imposes significant constraints on land-use planning. This system adds a further stage to the planning process, involves intermediaries, and may even partially alter the planning project. Given that ecological compensation is specifically compensation in kind, it also has significant spatial implications, particularly on local land transactions (both within and outside the market). As a necessary element for implementing compensation, land is de facto brought to the forefront. Indeed, compensation sites, with a new use in the medium or long term, are created. Local planning conditions are consequently altered.

This research examines the implementation of the ERC sequence as a public policy measure, analysing the strategies and practices of practitioners on the ground who have to work within the constraints imposed by the standard.

To examine the changes brought about by this regulatory requirement, a process-based approach has been adopted, focusing on three main stages: the construction of the standard itself (the ‘standardisation’ phase), its translation into an operational tool through the establishment of equivalence agreements (the ‘equivalence’ phase) and its integration into the planning and land market (the ‘market integration’ phase). Each of these three stages has implications for the production of space and places constraints on future development projects.

An analysis of these processes reveals discrepancies between the standard’s overarching objectives and its operational implementation, which tends to narrow and diminish the scope of the biodiversity components taken into account. The thesis focuses on the negotiations and power dynamics that influence the operationalisation of the framework, as well as the narrowing of the definition of biodiversity at each of the three stages. These interpretations and adaptations are necessary given the difficulties practitioners encounter in applying the standard. In addition to the difficulty of grasping the concept of biodiversity, practitioners face land tenure challenges, which lead certain actors (project developers, intermediaries, landowners) to adapt their land strategies.

This study, which employs a qualitative methodology, draws on a range of empirical data: extensive exploratory fieldwork that helped to refine the central research question and hypotheses; interviews with project owners, intermediaries and government departments; and a case study focusing on two urban development projects in a medium-sized French town.

• Sabine Barles, University Professor, University of Paris 1, Rapporteur
• Olivier Coutard, Research Director at the CNRS, PhD supervisor
• Nathalie Frascaria-Lacoste, Professor at AgroPrisTech, Examiner
• Harold Levrel, Professor at AgroParisTech, Examiner
• Sylvain Pioch, Senior Lecturer (HDR), University of Montpellier III

In recent years, ‘green’ hydrogen has been touted as a ‘miracle solution’ for the energy transition that could spark an ‘industrial and energy revolution’. The aim of this thesis is to put the idea of a ‘green hydrogen revolution’ into perspective. It seeks to examine the changes in infrastructure, practices and governance that the introduction of this energy carrier may bring about within the French energy system. With this in mind, the thesis seeks to describe the deployment of hydrogen in France and its regions from the 2010s to early 2022, through two dimensions: multi-level governance and socio-technical controversies. Considering that the trajectory of hydrogen is the result of a techno-economic construct, the thesis examines how actors at different levels approach the subject and the strategies that emerge from this.

To account for our analysis at the interface between socio-technical and socio-political approaches, we draw on the concept of socio-technical configuration. This concept describes more or less stable trans-scalar assemblages of heterogeneous elements around which networks of actors form, giving rise to different conceptions of how to plan their deployment.
This thesis demonstrates that hydrogen does not herald a ‘revolution’ for the French energy sector. The technical and economic difficulties encountered, the successive challenges raised, and the re-appropriation of the issue by traditional players in the energy sector are all factors that contribute to reducing the scope for more radical transformation.

Members of the jury:
Anne-Cécile Douillet, University Professor, CERAPS; Rapporteur:
Thomas Reverdy, University Professor, PACTE; Rapporteur:
Annabelle Brisse, PhD, EIFER until 31 December 2021, then Hynamics; Examiner:
Alain Nadai, Research Director, CIRED Examiner
François-Mathieu Ppupeau, Research Director, LATTS Thesis supervisor
Caroline Gallez, Research Director, Université Gustave Eiffel Co-supervisor

The possibility of disasters compels us to rethink progressive, yet non-linear definitions (or ‘instauration’, to use Souriau’s terminology) of risk, space and expertise. Adopting a symmetrical approach, this work explores several shifting dimensions of the subject and of ‘at-risk’ space in the San Francisco Bay Area, within the shared experience of an epistemic community awaiting a major earthquake – ‘the Big One’. From the perspective of geography and science and technology studies, we will examine the complex system of relationships that co-construct seismic risk, as well as the way in which this successive instauration brings about transformations in the fabrication of space, the definition of risk and, finally, the translation of this scientific work into public policy and the figure of the expert.

Drawing on extensive empirical research conducted in the San Francisco Bay Area, and analysing the community of ‘Earthquake Junkies’ – as these experts have dubbed themselves – as well as other risk-aware residents, this work highlights the role of experience and emotion in a multitude of intertwined processes linking risk, space and expertise.

Further exploration of this issue will show that the rigid definitions which have pitted science against experience, rationality against emotion, and expertise against lay perception should be rethought in favour of a more systematic approach that takes into account the role of the various dimensions of knowledge. With a view to gaining a better understanding of the complex definition of risk in the public sphere, this research also proposes a framework for reflecting on the definition of the ‘at-risk’ subject, whilst facilitating reflection on the establishment of a closer relationship between scientific and non-scientific knowledge.

This thesis examines the practices involved in integrating risk prevention policies and crisis management practices at the local level. Whilst the cyclical frameworks promoted by disaster prevention encourage a coherent approach to all actions aimed at mitigating their effects, public action to ‘cope with’ risks and crises remains extremely fragmented in France. Regulations, tools and actors responsible for risk prevention coexist with those preparing for the onset of crises. By tracking the activities of the main local actors addressing these issues at the urban area level (staff of inter-municipal bodies and decentralised state services), the analysis highlights the existence of areas of shared practice, describing their emergence and effects.

Integration is first examined from the perspective of the political sociology of local authorities and organisations. These bodies envisage and practise integration in very different ways: on the one hand, through the institutionalisation of collaboration between departments, and on the other, through the development of an integrated approach based on an endo-urban definition of risks (Gralepois 2008). Integration is then examined through the interplay of public policy instruments and other local socio-technical mechanisms. These interplay, negotiated between local actors, ultimately transforms the way in which risks and crises are integrated into urban systems.

This thesis places local government officials and their actions at the heart of the analysis. However, by exploring the common ground between risk prevention and crisis management practices, the thesis also aims to highlight the continuities and overlaps between the concepts of risk and crisis.

Composition of the jury

• Olivier Borraz, Research Director, CNRS Sciences Po (Rapporteur)
• Mathilde Gralepois, Senior Lecturer, University of Tours (Rapporteur)
• Gilles Jeannot, Research Director, ENPC (Examiner)
• Andrew Lakoff, Professor, University of Southern California (Examiner)
• Valérie November, Research Director, CNRS (PhD supervisor)
• Magali Reghezza-Zitt, Senior Lecturer, École normale supérieure (Examiner)