Observatory of urban transformation
The ZAEU - Urban and Environmental Zone Atelier - is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary observatory of urban socio- ecosystems. ZAEU was co-built with the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg to foster relationships between academic scientists and urban practitioners to implement sustainable urban innovations. The ZAEU was created in 2011, and labeled by the Ecology and Environment Institute of the CNRS. It is a member of the Zone Ateliers network, the European and International Long-Term Ecosystem Research networks (eLTER; LTSER). It involves research laboratories and services of the Eurometropolis which work in synergy to develop a common understanding of the urban environment and the solutions for sustainable development. The goal is to build together knowledge to face present and future environmental challenges in a logic of sustainable urban development.
Key issues and how the observatory will help to tackle them
The ZAEU addresses six research topics: Food and waste, Water and sustainability, Energy, Air Pollution, Climate, Mobility and health, Nature in the city, and Occupation of land and spaces. The key issues include the effects of urbanization processes on the environment and resources (biodiversity, soil, water, air) and the ecological, economic, democratic, and social transformations of the overall socio-ecological urban system. Nature-based solutions are studied. Several demonstrators will continue to focalize effort:
- The Ostwaldergraben is an urban stream located in Strasbourg displaying a bad status due to discharges by former tanneries and polluted run-off water from urban catchments.
- The « Citadelle» sustainable city demonstrator aims at creating a low-carbon, resilient neighborhood from the construction of the neighbourhood until its future operation.
- Solenville and Evolvile are urban soil sites and abiotic characteristics are jointly studied. Living soils are essential for the ecosystems and for urban planning vision encompassing the so-called “green corridors”.
- Multi-sensor observations of the land use and the urban climate are collected to study the trajectories of urban socio-ecosystems. Multi-scale and multi-source earth observation data acquisitions are performed to characterize changes due to anthropogenic pressures.
- Observation of urban governance, citizen's representations, and practices allow for a better understanding of the relationships of all actors with nature, the environment, ecological and energy transitions. An inclusive and shared urban governance, adaptive, must emerge to reduce socio-environmental inequalities while responding to major environmental challenge.