The "Resilience and Territorial Innovation" cycle (RTI)
Climate change, air pollution and environmental degradation, resource scarcity, growing inequalities, pandemics… Acknowledging that territories are and will be disrupted by major phenomena – and that they will have to adapt to these changes – the Paris Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), the Paris School of Urban Engineering (EIVP) and the City of Paris have been working together since 2018 on an intersectoral and transdisciplinary research program. This program aims to produce innovative knowledge and to provide local and regional administrations, companies and citizens with tools to prepare for and cope with these transformations.
Territorial resilience: an inclusive definition
The concept of resilience is defined differently by various actors in interrelated fields (sustainable development, climate change adaptation, social inclusion, etc.). Territorial resilience is understood here as the capacity of all stakeholders to maintain a satisfactory operating state by adapting and preparing for the major shocks (floods, heat waves, terrorism, pandemics, etc.) and chronic
stresses (pollution, climate changes, resource scarcity, human migration, etc.) that the territory is or will be confronted to in the decades to come. This broad definition was chosen purposefully, to enable a constructive dialogue between specialists in different fields.
The future Chair
The Paris Institute for Advanced Study, the City of Paris (General Secretariat for Ecological Transition and Resilience), and the Paris School of Urban Engineering are working together towards establishing a Chair on"Resilience and Territorial Innovation". The purpose of this chair will be knowledge capitalization and the analysis of steering and assessment processes for resilience policies and projects. Over an initial period of 5 years and based on real cases of territorial innovation, it will offer an innovative open-source exchange and reflection platform for all types of stakeholders. With the best researchers in humanities, social sciences, and engineering sciences worldwide, the chair will aim to develop know-how, to establish a knowledge community and to create a common toolbox.
The past events
As a prologue to the future chair, a series of seminars and workshops was initiated at the Paris IAS in October 2019. On a regular basis, it has brought together researchers, policy makers, civil servants, economic and civil society actors to discuss the different dimensions of territorial resilience and the specific issues of assessment and indicators.
LAUNCHING SEMINAR
Assessing Territorial Resilience: Issues and Challenges
October 1st 2019, at the Paris IAS
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Assessing Territorial Resilience: Issues and Challenges
Is it possible to assess the resilience, ownership or capacity of territories eminently complex and evolving? How can we measure the impact of public policies or projects aimed at increasing resilience in its various aspects (social, environmental, technical, etc.)? Can indicators be developed and if so, what are they? Should other methods be favoured (surveys, qualitative approaches, etc.)?
THEMATIC SEMINAR
Adaptation and resilience of infrastructures and networks: anticipation and coordination
November 4th 2019, at the Paris IAS
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Adaptation and resilience of infrastructures and networks: anticipation and coordination
This seminar brought together experts in the field to produce a list of questions that will be discussed in workshops on 6 and 7 February 2020 with a view to launching research projects. The objective is to allow a broad participation of all actors involved in these themes and exchanges between researchers, practitioners and decision-makers.
THEMATIC SEMINAR
Human Factors of Territorial Resilience: Individual Readiness and Social Cohesion
December 10th 2019, at the Paris IAS
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Human Factors of Territorial Resilience: Individual Readiness and Social Cohesion
If the physical and technical layer of the territory has an undeniable role in the resilience of the whole, the human, social and societal dimensions are increasingly recognized as essential both in the construction of problems and in their resolution. The 100 Resilient Cities initiative states that "a strong social fabric is the necessary foundation for communities and individuals to be able to cope with whatever may happen and to come out of it in the best possible way".
THEMATIC SEMINAR
Territorial resilience: how are modes of governance evolving?
February 6th 2020, at the Paris IAS
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Territorial resilience: how are modes of governance evolving?
To address this multidimensional and complex issue, the seminar chose to explore a "macro/meso/micro" cut: Who decides what at what level? How is the monitoring and evaluation of the development of regulations and their implementation carried out? What is the room for manoeuvre at the territorial level? What are the blocking factors? What can be improved? These questions will be discussed based on concrete examples.
WORKSHOPS
Technical, social, political: an inventory of indicators of territorial resilience
February 6th and 7th 2020, at the Paris IAS
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Technical, social, political: an inventory of indicators of territorial resilience
The themes of the three workshops are:
1) Resilience and adaptation in the field of buildings and technical networks,
2) Human and Social Factors of Territorial Resilience
and 3) Organization and governance of intersectoral projects for resilience.