Urban planning, urban space and mobility practices with low environmental impact – URFE

First, we look at the individual actors who turn to light modes of travel, their practices, their representations, but also their aspirations. We then examine the territory's “reception potential”, a notion borrowed from V. Kaufmann (2014), in its dimensions relating to public spaces, transport networks and systems, and spatial ergonomics (the accessibility of resources and different parts of the territory to users turning to these modes of travel). Lastly, we are interested in the role that collective public players can play in influencing this potential to create a territory that is more hospitable to the practices, lifestyles, expectations and aspirations of its inhabitants, thereby promoting the contribution of these forms of mobility to more sustainable development. The angle through which the ANR URFé project approaches light individual mobility is that of the hospitality of urban space and its development. The general hypothesis is that the various obstacles mentioned above reflect a gap between the reality of the practices and needs of users of this light mobility, and the logic of spatial planning. The work carried out focuses mainly on the metropolises of Aix-Marseille-Provence, Lyon and Strasbourg, with a few cases in Switzerland and sparsely populated areas in Brittany. Working on the scale of these territories not only enables us to cover a wide range of environments and layouts, from dense urban fabrics to suburban and peri-urban spaces, but also to question the reticular nature of layouts designed to accommodate light individual mobility. What's more, these areas are not all at the same stage in the development of this mobility and in the way it is taken into account in the planning of traffic areas. Team members come from the scientific fields of Accidentology, Geography, Urban Planning, Political Science, Law and Economics. This multi-disciplinary approach enables a systemic analysis of the various obstacles. In addition, the project includes collaboration with the urban planning agencies in the study areas: UrbaLyon (Agence d'urbanisme de l'aire métropolitaine lyonnaise), AGAM (Agence d'urbanisme de l'agglomération marseillaise), and ADEUS (Agence d'Urbanisme de Strasbourg Rhin Supérieur). The aim is to take better account of the issues raised by the emergence of these new mobility practices, and to ensure that the scientific results of the project are transferred to action. The project is organized into three workpackage: “uses, actual practices and safety issues” (WP 1), “the developed space” (WP 2), “developing the space” (WP 3).

Empirically and theoretically, this research has made it possible to:

- Characterize the evolution of bicycle use in the three metropolises of Lyon, Strasbourg and Aix-Marseille, differentiating between central sectors and outlying suburbs, and paying particular attention to the socio-demographic profiles of users. Based on in-depth, longitudinal processing of the EMD and EMC2 surveys, this work highlights the differing trajectories of the return to cycling in these three metropolises.

- Highlighting strong contrasts in the typologies of cycling facilities (segregation, partial segregation, integration) according to the three areas. The Eurometropole of Strasbourg has opted for mainly segregated cycle facilities, while in the Metropole of Lyon, a large proportion of facilities are of the “partial segregation” type (cycle lanes and bus lanes open to bikes), while in the Metropole of Aix-Marseille there is no dominant typology.

- Link the difficulties encountered by users of light individual modes of transport with the choices made when designing public spaces, through a series of interviews with project owners and contractors.

- Construct a territorial ergonomics indicator to reveal favorable or unfavorable situations of access to local resources (shops, services, etc.) by these modes. Carried out on the scale of the Strasbourg Eurometropolis, this work highlights significant spatial disparities, depending on the district, notably correlated with urban structure (hypercentre, dense suburbs, peripheral rings).

- A better understanding of the role played by these light individual modes in local mobility policies. With regard to the emergence of free-floating scooters, the central cities of the metropolises studied are taking different positions (in Strasbourg, for example, this device is undesirable).

To gain a better understanding of how cyclists use the different types of cycle facilities on the project sites, and the safety problems they may encounter on these dedicated facilities. Investigations on the Lyon and Marseille sites showed that the impact of cycling facilities on cyclists' safety is not unequivocal. Some facilities, such as green lanes, which are located on the outskirts of the city and are strongly separated from motorized traffic, can, under certain conditions, enhance safety. On the other hand, certain configurations, particularly those observed on major boulevards, where the extreme segmentation of travel modes (one space for each mode) can in some cases pose safety problems.

The results of the territorial ergonomics of access to local resources by bicycle, obtained in the URFé project, were put into perspective with data on how cyclists feel in the city (via a contributory platform “Pédaleurs, pédaleuses”) as part of the recent ANR Co-Move project (LIVE). Analyses of the cohabitation of mobilities in public space, in a context marked by a strong diversification of travel devices and mobility practices, continues with an international comparison in Spain (Barcelona Metropolitan Area), as part of a thesis financed by the Gustave Eiffel University (2024-2026) (LMA). In addition, analyses of the ergonomics of public spaces with regard to cycling will give rise to more in-depth theoretical work on the territoriality of these modes of transport, through the concepts of adhesion, riparianism, reticularity and nodality (MATRIS).

Finally, on the subject of safety, the work undertaken has shown the importance of problems of detectability for cyclists and users of electric scooters, and the influence of the layout of traffic areas on these problems. However, these results call for further investigation, in particular using more precise data such as Detailed Accident Studies. Analyses could also be carried out in environments other than the central areas of metropolises. Comparative analyses of insecurity phenomena affecting cyclists and users of other light individual modes could also be instructive. On the other hand, work on the production processes of bicycle facilities in some requalification operations suggests that there could be regularities in these processes, which it might be interesting to put into perspective with the regularities observed in accidental processes (LMA).

The results will be disseminated to the scientific community and to stakeholders in urban production and mobility policies (transfer to local and regional authorities). As far as the scientific community is concerned, the results will be disseminated in the traditional way, via A-rank scientific articles and international and national conferences. The targeted journals are in the fields of transport (Transportation Research; Journal of Transport and Health, Accident Analysis and Prevention), urban planning (Flux, Journal of Urban Design, disP-The Planning Review, RIURBA), geography (Cybergéo-European Journal of Geography, Revue Internationale de Géomatique), urban studies (Métropoles) and the environment (VertigO).
For the transfer of knowledge to action (elected representatives, technicians, consultancies working on urban planning and mobility), collaboration with the network of Urban Planning Agencies and the participation of CEREMA in the project will ensure greater success in terms of appropriation and dissemination.

This project deals with the hospitality of urban areas and urban spaces towards new forms of mobility related to the development of travel modes with low environmental impact (bicycles, pedelecs, electric scooters...). This development faces various obstacles: persistent safety problems, the inadequacy of the devices intended for these modes in the field of urban planning and design, the difficulties that the public sector has to adapt to the rapid changes related to the emergence of new technical objects and the increasing role of private operators. This project aims to better understand these obstacles and the means to overcome them, through field studies, in-depth analysis of accidents, in-depth user surveys (on their practices, needs and aspirations) and surveys of stakeholders involved in urban planning and design, within the framework of spatialized analyzes giving a large place to the specificities of the studied areas (the regions of Marseille, Lyon, Strasbourg, and Lausanne).

We hypothesize that these various obstacles reflect a gap between the actual development of the practices and needs of the users of this light individual mobility and the way in which public actors plan the territory. In this project, we will first focus on the individual actors moving towards light modes of transport with low environmental impact, on their practices, their representations, but also on their aspirations (workpackage 1). We will then look at the territory's potential for welcoming people, particularly in terms of public space, transport networks and systems, intermodality, spatial ergonomics and the accessibility of resources and different parts of the territory, in relation to the practices and aspirations of the inhabitants moving towards these modes of transport (workpackage 2). Finally, we are interested in the role that collective public actors can play in influencing this potential for reception, in the direction of a more hospitable urban area with regard to the practices, lifestyles, expectations and aspirations of these inhabitants, thus promoting the contribution of these forms of mobility to more sustainable development (workpackage 3).

As regards the choice of study sites, the work carried out as part of the project will cover the urban areas of Aix-Marseille, Lyon and Strasbourg and the Lausanne conurbation. Working on the scale of these territories will not only make it possible to cover a wide variety of environments and developments, ranging from dense urban fabrics to suburban and peri-urban spaces, but also to question the reticular nature of the developments that are supposed to accommodate light individual mobility. Moreover, these areas have the particularity of not being at the same stage in the development of this mobility and in the way it is taken into account in the development of circulation spaces.

The consortium formed is multidisciplinary. Indeed, this project mobilizes partners recognized in the analysis of mobility practices, travel activity and its accidentality (TS2-LMA, IGD, CEREMA), spatial dynamics and accessibility problems (IDEES-Caen and LIVE, which together developed the methods of spatial ergonomics), and the multiple dimensions of the action on the "urban factory" (LIEU). These different partners will be particularly involved in the implementation of the various workpackages and tasks.