Mariana Reis Santos: The effects of long-term planning practices and discourse on residential and rail development: An analysis of the rural-urban areas of Paris and Rome

Due to their wide range of professional and cultural opportunities, European cities are becoming increasingly attractive. As a result, land use and development in their central areas are intensifying. At the same time, peri-urban areas continue to expand, creating fragmented rural-urban environments. Indeed, rural-urban sprawl is one of the greatest challenges to achieving sustainable development in Europe and beyond, and planning has a fundamental role to play in addressing this challenge.

As processes such as urban sprawl and densification intertwine with the development of transport infrastructure, discussions on mobility are becoming increasingly common. This thesis therefore examines the role of planning in coordinating densification and mobility strategies to address the challenges of rural-urban sprawl and sustainable development in major European urban regions. More specifically, it assesses how successive generations of transport-urbanisation planning have been conceptualised in relation to, or in conflict with, the context of the rural-urban regions (RURs) of Paris and Rome.

Through this assessment, this thesis aims (1) to put new developments into perspective in order to compare and identify patterns and changes; (2) to understand whether or not these measures have effectively reduced urban sprawl and the role of the concepts of compactness and density in these contexts; and (3) to understand whether or not the discourses and narratives underlying planning practice have had an effect, and the underlying forces behind these outcomes.

Composition of the jury:

• Greet De Block, Professor, University of Antwerp, Examiner
• Laurent Devisme, University Professor, École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Nantes, Rapporteur
• Xavier Desjardins, University Professor, Sorbonne University, Rapporteur
• Martine Drozdz, CNRS Research Fellow, Maison Française d’Oxford / CNRS, Examiner
• Massimo Moraglio, Senior Researcher, Technische Universität Berlin, Co-supervisor
• Arnaud Passalacqua, University Professor, Université Paris-Est Créteil, Examiner
• Nathalie Roseau, University Professor, École nationale des ponts et chaussées, PhD supervisor