Territorial resilience, agility and the circular economy

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The aim of the Territorial Resilience, Agility, and Circular Economy (TRACE) axis is to build a global understanding of the territory from heterogeneous and fragmented data, in order to better anticipate risks, foster local agility and implement circular practices (waste reduction, resource reuse, etc.).

The challenges of this axis are to define a holistic vision of a territory based on heterogeneous and fragmented data, to build a multi-scale and multi-model approach for characterizing and evaluating a meta-performance (sustainable and multi-point of view), to support decision-making in an informed way towards structural and organizational solutions that are resilient and sustainable for the territorial eco-system in order to make this decision equitable and accepted by all.

 

Fields of application

In this context, the territory is seen as a space where different players (companies, local authorities, institutions, citizens, etc.) organize themselves together to achieve common goals or carry out a collective project (reference to Bredif, 2021). The term “meso” here refers to an intermediate level of action.

At this level, different organizations implement concrete tools, actions or projects to address common challenges (e.g. climate change, resource management, economic attractiveness...).  They also try to manage the contradictions that may exist between certain expectations or constraints (e.g. economic growth vs. sustainability) (reference to Louafi, 2022).
 

Scientific challenges

Various issues are to be addressed around:

  • Engineering and management of spaces and infrastructures

How can we design infra-structures (in the sense of Industrial Engineering) adapted to the needs of territories? What models should be developed to integrate the principles of sustainability, resilience and agility?

  • Multimodality and mobility networks

How can we achieve fluid, sustainable mobility (whether of products or services) integrating heterogeneous modes of transport? What are the real flows and interactions in territorial networks?

  • Studying the impact of rural/urban and peri-urban areas

How can we reduce the disparities between rural and urban areas in terms of connectivity and development? What are their particularities?

  • System of systems

How can interactions between subsystems be explored? What models and simulations need to be designed to optimize overall performance in a multi-actor context?

  • The circular economy and sustainable transition

How can the region be organized to integrate recycling, reuse and resource recovery / remanufacturing / “waste management”? What tools need to be designed and developed for ecological and efficient territorial management?

  • Access to care and services

How can we network the region to promote access to healthcare services? How can we manage the “white zones” that are medical deserts? How can we take into account low population density?

 

Methodological approaches

The methodological approaches implemented relate to :

  • Contextualization and access to data by managing interoperability, improving data quality, access to data (or even its existence), its massification and the identification of risks;
  • Modeling and simulation: the use of “digital twins” to represent complex systems, scenario simulation to anticipate/measure the impacts of decisions;
  • Multi-criteria approach: in order to analyze the territorial life cycle (ACVT), assess environmental, social and economic impacts, perceive dual performance i.e. those of users in the broadest sense (crucial for mobility and access to care), finally, define the performance cockpit, contextualization and awareness of the latter;
  • Participatory approaches: encouraging co-construction with local stakeholders and collaborative definition of priorities and solutions, taking into account the notion of equity;
  • Decision support: based on multi-scale and hybrid optimization, risk management.
     
POSITIONING OF THE AXIS IN NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT

The work of this axis relies on a network of socio-economic partners (local, departmental and regional authorities such as the CRESS d'Occitanie, the DREAL, local Agenda 21, Cerema, ANCT), the IMT “Intelligent Mobility” community, the SAGIP Sustainability WG, the European 4TU resilience community at TUDelft, the TOTEM cluster, ID4MOBILITY.

Initial contacts have been made with industrial partners concerned by the SDGs. Active academic collaborations on these subjects are underway or planned with IMT Mines Alès (2 theses in progress), IMT Atlantique, École des Mines de Saint Étienne, etc.