Solutions for urban resilience - Upper Alsace – SURE-BA

SURe is an integrated software that provides predictive analyzes on (i) urban pollution (gas and aerosols) LINKED WITH the health of urban populations facing chronic respiratory diseases (asthma, allergies) and infectious diseases (Covid-19) , (ii) urban energy consumption, (iii) the heat islands effect and (iv) a large-scale climatic events (storms, hurricanes, etc.) and more generally sustainability and urban resilience in the context of climate change from the scale of individual buildings, to the scale of neighborhoods and urban systems, directly impacting the local urbanization (PLU).

For each of these aspects, conceptual evidence is provided. SURE is based on the calculation of descriptors such as the two-point spatial correlation function, g(r), the average number of nearest neighboring buildings, the local order parameter quantifying the organization of buildings in the immediate vicinity, the building height index, and the housing occupancy density.
These descriptors are rooted in urban physics and are concepts directly imported from the analysis of material texture at the molecular scale in a physics-by-analogy approach.

The SURe-BA (South Alsace) project that we are CARRYING OUT instead of leading aims to address multiple dimensions:

The first concern related to the development of the proposed methods concerns the validation of M Pellenq's research work through application in different territories and contexts, particularly with regards to urban landscapes not involved in the initial construction phase of the SURE project.

The second concern related to the development of the proposed methods concerns the involvement of social housing, residents, and local authorities. To achieve this, we propose to engage them in a participatory research approach. This approach, in collaboration with the CASF and ICube teams, will equip cities and educational institutions with measurement stations, allowing them to participate in data collection and contribute to the initial data analysis based on the objectives related to the official journal of the National Education.

This phase of the project, in collaboration with the CAUE, aims to address different aspects. Firstly RAISING CITIZENS awareness among citizens about the complexity of urban warming and the various possible hypotheses for reducing heat islands. Secondly, students and citizens involved in this project will discover cities in France or abroad that have successfully designed their urban spaces to limit the development of heat islands.

SURe-BA will use a user-friendly visualization platform that serves municipalities, urban planners, and potentially interests the insurance industry. Recognizing the need to train users to the new concepts of urban physics, SURE will be accompanied by a hands-on training platform provided locally by professionals from CASF or the consortium to be expanded.

SURe-BA can become an information tool for urban citizens regarding the challenges and actions of their city in terms of resilience. Interdisciplinary in nature, SURE is driven notably by urban physics.

Keywords: (i) Urban physics, (ii) descriptors of urban systems and texture, (iii) urban resilience to extreme weather events, (iv) pollution and health, (v) energy efficiency.

Project objective(s): To construct, through participatory research, a test research approach to confirm or refute research hypotheses, particularly regarding the approach to deploying a measurement tool on a large scale.

Developments after the pre-maturation program: Startup, 2 products: software/training platform.