Have France’s éco-quartiers (eco-districts) made advances in resilient city-making? A discussion paper

Abstract

In order to deal with climate change and variability, many cities around the world have developed strategies to promote sustainable urban development (the “green agenda”), and in more recent years, urban resilience and adaptation (the “blue agenda”). In the past couple of decades, “eco-districts” have become an increasingly popular urban strategy for furthering the green agenda, the Écoquartier Program in France being one prominent example that aims at producing districts that are ecological, sustainable and innovative. But what about the blue agenda? This discussion paper explores to what extent France’s Écoquartier Program helps to facilitate the integration of resilience, adaptation, disaster preparedness and risk reduction. It describes the evolution of the Écoquartier Program, the various requests for proposal, the Écoquartier Label, and design teams’ responses to show the gradual incorporation and promotion of these concepts. It also uses an example of a certified and recognized écoquartier project in Paris, the Clichy-Batignolles écoquartier, to highlight the convergence of the green and blue agendas towards a “turquoise agenda”. Finally, it discusses how the Écoquartier Program could help contribute to resilient city-making at the national scale.