The Tripode research group (Digital Transitions – Regulation, Infrastructures, Practices, Data), in collaboration with the Politics, Markets and Urban Worlds (PMMU) research area at LATTS, is pleased to invite you to a seminar on the book *Housing under Platform Capitalism: The Contentious Regulation of Short-Term Rentals in European Cities* (University of California Press, 2025). Following a presentation by the three authors, Thomas Aguilera (Sciences Po Rennes, Arènes), Francesca Artioli (Université Paris-Est Créteil, Lab’Urba) and Claire Colomb (University of Cambridge), the discussion will be moderated by Lise Fourdrignier (UGE, LATTS) and Antoine Courmont (UGE, LATTS).

Summary of the book “Housing Under Platform Capitalism”

Fifteen years after the launch of Airbnb, most cities around the world have introduced plans to regulate these markets. However, there is a wide variety of governance and regulatory approaches across different regions, particularly in Europe. Drawing on comparative, multi-level research and employing mixed methods across twelve major European cities (Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Prague, Rome, Vienna), we highlight and explain the development of different types of regulatory regimes. In some cities, public policies aim to curb market development in order to protect the stock of affordable housing for permanent residents or to limit the effects of overtourism; in other cities, by contrast, regulations are designed to support the market in order to legalise it, tax it and make their territory attractive.

This variety of responses can be explained by institutional and socio-economic factors linked to welfare state systems, types of urban capitalism and housing markets, but also by the political processes of mobilisation involving citizens’ movements, property and land owners, financial actors, the tourism and housing sectors, and local and national governments. This book examines the capacity of states and local governments to govern cities, housing markets, tourism and, more generally, platform capitalism. It thus contributes to the comparative study of multi-level governance, the sociology of the state and the comparative political economy of capitalisms.

The article Tripode / PMMU Seminar first appeared on LATTS - Laboratory for Territorial and Societal Techniques.

Daniel Florentin and Emile Balembois will present their work on the ANR Ecomodam project and the challenges posed by planetary boundaries.

A different approach to measurement and a shift in priorities in urban projects. Insights into the Ecomodam project – Daniel Florentin

As part of the ANR Ecomodam project, we are examining the issue of greening in spatial planning and how this is reflected in the practices and tools of (public) planners. The challenge is to understand the challenges involved in this greening process, to observe the transformations in professional practices at work, and to equip certain planners to take into account new metrics related to materials, living organisms or energy. The presentation will offer a dual account of the transformations identified in our various fields of study and the experiments underway regarding the transformation of planning management tools, particularly assessments. These empirical observations raise questions about the different versions of greening that coexist and the forms of friction that drive them.

What role do planetary boundaries play in informing the development of French municipal and inter-municipal policies? – Emile Balembois

This presentation reports on doctoral research into the use of territorialisations of the planetary boundaries framework. The research comprises an interdisciplinary research-intervention approach centred on the development of territorialisations and the analysis of their effects. It was conducted in collaboration with members of a network of stakeholders at the (inter)municipal level (France Villes et Territoires Durables). The presentation will first outline the research approach and its results. It will then focus on the analysis of the discourses observed throughout this research, which justify the mobilisation of planetary boundaries. These discourses highlight the motivations emerging around a problem that inter-municipal bodies must resolve, for which planetary boundaries facilitate early identification and represent a means of addressing it subsequently. The analysis of these mobilisations will reveal the agenda-setting strategies at work. These revolve around a tension between local environmental problems and engagement with global issues.

The article PMMU Seminar – Ecomodam and planetary boundaries first appeared on LATTS - Laboratory for Territorial and Societal Techniques.

On this occasion, Janaina Matoso Santos and Vinicius Nakama will present their thesis work, particularly that which they have carried out at LATTS since their arrival and as their stay draws to a close.

For those who are unable to attend in person, here is the link to the Zoom meeting: https://univ-eiffel.zoom.us/j/89170473121

Meeting ID: 891 7047 3121
Password: 94eh3Mw1

Large dams as socio-technical devices between energy and territory: the case of the Três Marias hydroelectric power station (Minas Gerais, Brazil)

Abstract: The Três Marias Hydroelectric Power Plant (Minas Gerais State, Brazil) was built in the 1960s, at a time when Brazil’s energy systems were being developed with a view to expanding industrialisation. The large reservoir, covering an area of 1,040 km², flooded land that now belongs to eight municipalities with which it has had direct relations for six decades. This research examines how large dams operate over time through a dual relationship: (a) they are designed and operated as components of a large-scale energy system; and (b) once built, they function as devices for territorial reconfiguration at the local level, producing effects that are not always related to energy production. During the doctoral internship at LATTS, the aim is to broaden the theoretical and methodological basis of the ongoing research in order to refine the analyses of the effects of the Três Marias reservoir on neighbouring municipalities and the ways in which these effects are linked to the energy system of which the power plant is a part. To this end, the literature on infrastructure that has developed mainly since the end of the 20th century, a period described by some authors as the “infrastructural turn” in the social sciences, will be mobilised. During the presentation at the PMMU seminar, this theoretical framework will be discussed, showing how it relates to the previous stages of the research.

The instrumentalisation of crisis: Interest groups and political networks in the expansion of the real estate-financial circuit in Brazil

Abstract: The research examines the institutionalisation of real estate-based financial instruments in Brazil, with particular attention to periods of crisis. It posits that these instruments are not neutral but are shaped by situated sociopolitical processes that define their purposes. We argue that the design of these instruments, as the outcome of collective action by groups of interest within political and regulatory arenas, generates networks of influence and power in interaction with the state. At a more abstract level, these processes contribute to the assembly of a real estate-financial circuit. Methodologically, the study adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining critical literature review and documentary research with political network analysis. In doing so, it is expected to contribute to debates on financialisation by showing how these instruments, anchored in the production of urban space, are crafted to circulate financial capital and overcome the limits of capital accumulation.

We look forward to seeing you at this scientific exchange.

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