学院介绍
新闻中心
中非可持续发展研讨会 - 主题报告 2
发布时间：2008-11-10
Sustainable European cities: some French examples
Carole Pourchez
Head of sustainable development projects at the French Ministry for the Environment and Sustainable Development (Paris, France)
1) The notion of the sustainable city
The idea of the 搒ustainable city?first appeared in the framework for sustainable development set out in the 1987 Bruntland Report: 揹evelopment that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs?
The aim was to allow all people equal access to a satisfactory level of economic, social, human and cultural development on a planet where resources are used with care and ecosystems carefully protected.
It sought to find an acceptable compromise between local urban development priorities and the demands of globalisation and called for a re-examination of the notions of equilibrium and multi-disciplinarity to be applied to unprecedented urban development and an increasingly worrying environmental situation.
At the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, in the face of increasing alarm over global warming, 173 governments signed up to a new development programme that aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by at least 5% in relation to their 1990 level. At local authority level this has been transposed into Agenda 21, an initiative for the 21st century.
A European Sustainable Cities and Towns Charter was adopted in 1994, known as the Aalborg Charter. It reflects the realisation that local authorities are closer to environmental problems and to citizens, and that they have a vital role to play in changing everyday habits, production and consumption patterns and environmental structures.
Consequently, Europe has witnessed a plethora of projects and experiences, ranging from more community-oriented approaches in the UK to projects with a more scientific and technical focus in Germany, Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands. In Southern Europe and France the emphasis is on providing a better quality of life. Nevertheless, models of eco-villages remain ambivalent from a social perspective. While nobody disputes the ecological and collective performances achieved at the celebrated BedZed housing experiment in the UK, conviviality does not necessarily abound in such places which need to be more than just a comfortable spot cut-off from the rest of the world that makes people feel good about themselves.
Sustainability is neither an immutable concept nor an unlimited development but an innovative system of equilibrium that affects all aspects of local government decision-making. The third European Conference on Sustainable Cities held in Hanover on February 11, 2000, continued to exhort each government to organise and implement Agenda 21 as per the Aalborg Charter.
2) The ideal type of built-up urban space that does not sacrifice quality of life
Many people currently use environmental arguments and a certain conception of urban life to defend compact, built-up, multi-layered cities of 搒hort distances?against another model of fragmented sprawl with no real centre characterised by hypermobility.
As part of the Lisbon-Gothenburg agenda (2001) which combines territorial competitiveness and sustainable development, cities are promoted on the basis of total quality that combines a good quality of life incorporating 搒oft?modes of transport, quality training, safety and good local facilities, high environmental standards and green spaces, etc.
Urban areas are perceived on the basis of their functions: housing, employment, access to goods and services, cultural activities and social interaction. In order to carry out such functions, areas are made up of both static components (buildings, infrastructure, green spaces, derelict land) and dynamic ones (transport, water, air, energy and waste).
Each function has an environmental impact that contributes to the city抯 overall environmental performance. However, the various policies dealing with these matters that exist at different levels of government are often applied in isolation. There is very little chance that a quality urban environment will result spontaneously from a multitude of independent decisions.
The European Commission has developed management tools such as the common European indicators for use by local authorities. There are also a number of European directives that cover the different components of the urban environment, namely air, noise and water. Finally, the local Agenda 21 project places the principle of integrated, multi-sector and participative management on a territorial footing.
3) Agenda 21 in France
In order to boost the introduction of Agenda 21 projects at local level, the French Ministry of Sustainable Development drew up a set of guidelines for territorial sustainable development projects based on the recommendations of the members of the National 揂genda 21?Committee.
An action programme must be drawn up in a concerted manner based on a joint diagnostic assessment of the territory and priorities ranked in order to tackle key issues such as energy consumption, GHG emissions, water use and treatment of waste water, noise, air quality, nature and biodiversity, transport and mobility, natural and man-made risks, sustainable building practices, health-related issues, and sports, culture and educational issues, etc.
All of these urban management issues are tackled within a strategic orientation framework targeting five objectives:
1. combating climate change;
2. preserving biodiversity, protecting ecosystems and resources;
3. promoting social cohesion and solidarity between territories and between generations;
4. facilitating human development and access to a good quality of life for all;
5. promoting economic development based on responsible production and consumption patterns.
2. preserving biodiversity, protecting ecosystems and resources;
3. promoting social cohesion and solidarity between territories and between generations;
4. facilitating human development and access to a good quality of life for all;
5. promoting economic development based on responsible production and consumption patterns.
Project management strategy must also attempt to foster:
- continuous improvement;
- participation;
- oversight arrangements;
- a multi-disciplinary approach;
- joint evaluation procedures.
- participation;
- oversight arrangements;
- a multi-disciplinary approach;
- joint evaluation procedures.
The 328 French 揂genda 21?projects have been set up at all levels of local government (commune, urban council, d閜artment and region) and all aim to gradually promote sustainable development throughout the national territory.
Some were conceived for this purpose from the outset (Entremont, Nantes Metropolitan Area, Poitiers Urban Council, Basque Region, Department of Finist鑢e, etc.) while others are based on an environmental approach that has subsequently been extended to all programmes (蒫hirolles, Jarny, Nice C魌e d'Azur Urban Council, Commune of Plaine).
4) Strengths and weaknesses
The aims of the different territories generally tie in with the five objectives set down in the guidelines even if some are only partially addressed. For example, ?/I>economic development based on responsible production and consumption patterns?I> mainly results in initiatives to change public procurement practices through responsible purchasing or the use of short circuits in contract group catering. Other initiatives in the economic sphere merely focus on fostering environmental awareness among business people. Programmes with a ?/I>social cohesion?/I> aspect frequently stress High Quality Environmental social housing.
Action programmes include very worthwhile innovations which are frequently of an organisational rather than a technical nature. Most are sponsored at the highest level and there is a consensus that includes a large number of elected representatives, departmental heads and officials which facilitates multi-disciplinary approaches and concertation.
Urban environmental issues provide an excellent platform for democratic initiatives. Local residents need to be involved in order to achieve most of the objectives or implement new forms of governance. The lack of 搊ne-size-fits-all?technical or organisational solution helps move the debate along.
France has also set up participation arrangements and observatories for monitoring sustainable development programmes, however, initiatives at local and territorial level are still insufficient in terms of what was stipulated in the guidelines, especially concerning evaluation and continuous improvement.
5) Building a continuous improvement strategy
As no single territorial project can comply with the ten criteria set out in the guidelines, local authorities need to adopt a continuous improvement strategy to keep moving in the right direction.
Agenda 21 provides an opportunity to analyse projects and approaches in the light of sustainable development requirements. There is no 搊ne-size-fits-all?organisational model.
Agenda 21 is mainly built around two types of initiative:
- an agenda favouring action programmes over strategy, presented in the form of a catalogue of actions ?the strategic objectives are not always clear.
- another section built around a long-term strategy broken out into strategic guidelines and operational objectives.
The agendas are constantly evolving and should be progressively enhanced by feedback from the implementation, monitoring and evaluation processes. The second action programme will attempt to tackle areas not previously addressed.
Experience has shown that processes targeting improvement come in many forms.
They involve defining phases and levels of involvement: The Finist鑢e Departmental Council is attempting to review its strategic projects in the light of government guidelines. Of the 65 operational objectives set out in Agenda 21, the department is aiming to achieve 25 in 2007 and 12 in 2008.
Experimenting with different techniques: Nantes Urban Community used a questionnaire to analyse each project in terms of sustainable development principles.
Experimental projects or approaches: The Is鑢e Department tested out a project to promote age mixity through housing projects.
All local authorities ultimately express enthusiasm for pooling good practices, benefiting from feedback and building new partnerships that would never have existed without the Agenda 21 initiative.
Conclusion:
Depicting cities as ecosystems should not reduce urban complexity to mere flows of materials and energy. Reclaiming public spaces, recycling or urban renewal, 搒oft?modes of transport or controlling periurbanisation ?all of these new local government policies that have been amplified and brought up to date by Agenda 21 pose the recurring question of multi-disciplinary action, i.e., between different spheres (within municipal departments, government ministries, technical services), between the public and private sectors, between different geographical areas, and between the short- and long-term.
One of the things that sets Agenda 21 apart is the way in which it involves all stakeholders: the population, interest groups and associations as well as the corporate sector. Regardless of the risk of abuse or political manipulation, the fact that the urban environment constitutes such a ready-made platform for innovative democratic initiatives to tackle shared territorial challenges is both desirable and inevitable.
Sustainable cities will not be created out of high-tech enclaves ?between solar panels and teleworking ?or buildings that recycle rainwater and house vegetable patches on their rooftops. No, in Europe and elsewhere, they will grow out of contemporary cities redesigned in a myriad of different ways in line with new trade-offs and new interdependent relationships between local residents and their elected representatives as part of a 搉on-exclusive?process of solidarity.
