Interdisciplinary Reflexion on Urban Transition and the Role of Ecology in Habitability

Guest speaker:

Bernard Kaufmann is a lecturer and researcher in biology at the University Claude Bernard Lyon 1 and a member of the Laboratory of Ecology of Natural and Anthropized Hydrosystems. He is interested in the global changes of the Anthropocene affecting biodiversity, such as urbanization, biological invasions, fragmentation of territories and climate change. He studies these changes using two approaches, that of the urban landscape and its transformations, and that of the study of the biological communities that respond to them. He uses methodologies from geography (remote sensing, spatial analyses), computer science (invasion modeling), field ecology, and population genetics.

Description:

Cities are adopting effective biodiversity and permeability policies based on nature-based solutions to conserve, restore and enhance urban soils and vegetation. These include addressing the challenges of overheating or flood mitigation, improving the physical and mental health of residents, reducing soil, air and water pollution, and protecting and restoring biodiversity and functional ecosystems. These urban planning policies, summed up as “green, cool and permeable”, are essential to the ecological transition to sustainable cities. However, urban sprawl, by converting agricultural and natural land, has had a negative impact on biodiversity and food production, on social structures and increased CO2 emissions from transport networks. Compact city models implemented through legislation such as France's “Zero Net Artificialization” target could conflict with green models by densifying existing and planned housing.

Residential green spaces (RGS), both individual and collective housing, are often considered artificial and responsible for urban sprawl, and therefore at risk. RGEs alone, at the scale of the neighborhood or urban area, have the potential to provide the services expected in a sustainable, green city. But are these services sufficient, given the damage caused by urban sprawl?