Today, sus­tai­nable and intel­li­gent (or “smart”) mul­ti-scale mobi­li­ty is one of the aspects of the city of the future. The “Intel­li­gent Mobi­li­ty and Ter­ri­to­rial Dyna­mics” (MIDT) so-cal­led Chair of excel­lence aims to pro­vide ans­wers to this new chal­lenge of the 21^st cen­tu­ry, in direct col­la­bo­ra­tion with the many sta­ke­hol­ders invol­ved (local autho­ri­ties, com­pa­nies, regio­nal and inter­na­tio­nal part­ners, SU (the Sor­bonne Uni­ver­si­ties clus­ter) part­ners, etc.).

Context

Aca­de­mics res­pon­sible for the Chair: Pro­fes­sors Chris­ti­na Pro­nel­lo and Gilles Morel

The issue of trans­por­ta­tion and mobi­li­ty is beco­ming increa­sin­gly impor­tant in the logic pf regio­nal eco­no­mic deve­lop­ment. Urban plan­ning and regio­nal deve­lop­ment appear to be increa­sin­gly lin­ked to a diver­si­fied and flexible evo­lu­tion of trans­port and logis­tics ser­vices. These ser­vices are a deter­mi­ning fac­tor in the attrac­ti­ve­ness of regions and their eco­no­mic competitiveness.

The solu­tions that deci­sion-makers and experts must devise toge­ther, in consul­ta­tion with users, must evolve not only in terms of infra­struc­ture and vehicles, but also in terms of a coherent orga­ni­za­tion of the various modes of trans­port to make the sys­tem as a whole more effi­cient. The aim is to move towards tru­ly inte­gra­ted intel­li­gent trans­port sys­tems capable of respon­ding to diverse needs in real time, while also saving ener­gy and redu­cing pol­lu­tion in a sus­tai­nable man­ner.

To sup­port these deve­lop­ments, both in the plan­ning and ope­ra­tio­nal mana­ge­ment phases, digi­tal tech­no­lo­gies are being cal­led upon to sup­port new intel­li­gent sys­tems capable of simu­la­ting and opti­mi­zing new mul­ti­mo­dal net­works, respon­ding in real time to on-demand trans­port, and making net­works tech­ni­cal­ly and eco­no­mi­cal­ly interoperable.

On the other hand, regio­nal cities, but also smal­ler urban areas, are beco­ming the main hubs around which the ter­ri­to­ry is orga­ni­sed, and eco­no­mic deve­lop­ment can be seen, defi­ning a new, less sta­tic and more dyna­mic map of the ter­ri­to­ry. This new space, which inte­grates mobi­li­ty, must be approa­ched at dif­ferent scales on a sys­te­mic basis, from the very local level (neigh­bou­rhood, cam­pus, port, etc.) to the natio­nal and even inter­na­tio­nal levels, inclu­ding the urban and regio­nal levels.

One of the major chal­lenges for research is to pro­vide deci­sion-makers with tools to bet­ter manage this com­plexi­ty of flow mana­ge­ment, both in terms of time (from short-term and real-time regu­la­tion to for­ward-loo­king sce­na­rios for the future) and in terms of space (dif­ferent geo­gra­phi­cal and admi­nis­tra­tive scales) but also accor­ding to mul­ti­mo­dal (how to inte­grate dif­ferent modes) and mul­ti-cri­te­ria (how to take impacts into account from the ear­ly stages of sce­na­rio ana­ly­sis) approach.

In addi­tion, regions and urban com­mu­ni­ties have acqui­red suf­fi­cient auto­no­my to imple­ment a rea­lis­tic and viable trans­por­ta­tion poli­cy consistent with their ter­ri­to­rial and eco­no­mic deve­lop­ment stra­te­gies and coor­di­na­ted with (and com­pliant with) natio­nal and Euro­pean policies.

This com­pre­hen­sive and sys­te­mic approach must also take into account, in order to assist deci­sion-making and select the best sce­na­rios for the future, the para­digms of sus­tai­nable deve­lop­ment and resi­lience: redu­cing the use of fos­sil fuels to limit local pol­lu­tion and the impact on cli­mate change, impro­ving the resi­lience of net­works to natu­ral and tech­no­lo­gi­cal hazards, and impro­ving mobi­li­ty pro­vi­sion to meet socie­tal and eco­no­mic demand.

Regional strategy

Position in the regional strategy

This research chair is part of axis 3.2 “Mobi­li­ty and urba­ni­ty” of the Hauts-de-France Region's “smart spe­cia­li­za­tion stra­te­gy.”

It not only aims to streng­then the Region's scien­ti­fic stan­ding, but also aims in the long term to deve­lop inno­va­tive and ope­ra­tio­nal exper­tise in the field of sus­tai­nable and “smart”, mul­ti­mo­dal, and mul­ti-scale mobility.

Mobi­li­ty refers pri­ma­ri­ly to the move­ment of people, with the aim of deve­lo­ping dif­ferent modes of trans­port and net­works in a coor­di­na­ted and opti­mi­zed man­ner to bet­ter meet demand and thus contri­bute to the region's attractiveness.

This attrac­ti­ve­ness also concerns busi­nesses and the eco­no­mic fabric. Indeed, this same sys­te­mic and inter­mo­dal approach can also be applied to freight and the­re­fore to the chal­lenges of the logis­tics chain. The Hauts-de-France region has many assets to streng­then a net­work com­bi­ning dif­ferent modes of freight (road, water­ways with the future Seine-Nord canal, SNCF train sta­tions, etc.), and thus bet­ter meet the needs of local eco­no­mic deve­lop­ment in a context where a glo­bal approach is required. 

By beco­ming a “living lab” for smart mobi­li­ty, the Hauts-de-France region could streng­then its natio­nal and inter­na­tio­nal scien­ti­fic influence by posi­tio­ning itself as a “brid­ge­head” for research and as a clus­ter enabling resear­chers and pro­fes­sio­nals from around the world to come, present and com­pare their work and field expe­riences on these issues.

Structuring effect in the region

The theme of smart mobi­li­ty will be addres­sed from the pers­pec­tive of a regio­nal meshed net­work that will have a struc­tu­ring effect on local autho­ri­ties and the scien­ti­fic com­mu­ni­ty in Hauts-de-France and, to the south, Grea­ter Paris. This net­work will include an expe­ri­men­tal com­ponent (living labs) and a scien­ti­fic and aca­de­mic component.

Urban and ter­ri­to­rial living labs will enable scien­ti­fic and tech­no­lo­gi­cal inno­va­tions inte­gra­ting trans­port, digi­tal tech­no­lo­gy, ener­gy, and urban plan­ning to be tes­ted. They will be rol­led out across the urban area and its eco­sys­tem, but also at regio­nal level by deve­lo­ping the concept of “connec­ted ter­ri­to­ries,” impro­ving links bet­ween regio­nal cities (Amiens, Com­piègne, Beau­vais, etc.).

This mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­na­ry pro­gram will also make it pos­sible to mobi­lize aca­de­mic and research players in the Hauts-de-France region by crea­ting new syner­gies bet­ween labo­ra­to­ries wor­king in the fields of digi­tal tech­no­lo­gy (UTC/Heudiasyc in Com­piègne, UPJV/MIS at Amiens), trans­por­ta­tion and mobi­li­ty (Cerema/DTecMEF and UTC/GSU in Com­piègne), ener­gy (UTC-Rober­val in Com­piègne, ESIEE at Amiens, part­ners of the RTI-Lille consor­tium).

Regio­nal pro­jects and living labs will contri­bute to a sys­te­mic vision of the region and mobi­li­ty, sha­red bet­ween research scien­tists and engi­neers and regio­nal lea­ders. They will incor­po­rate seve­ral com­ple­men­ta­ry pers­pec­tives and issues, such as:

• Regio­nal connec­ti­vi­ty (rail­way sta­tions, roads, and new public trans­por­ta­tion services).
• Mul­ti­mo­dal trans­por­ta­tion, to make the most of the poten­tial of exis­ting sys­tems (mul­ti­mo­dal trans­por­ta­tion hubs).
• Urban plan­ning to improve qua­li­ty of life (park-and-ride faci­li­ties, cycle paths, inter­mo­dal hubs for soft modes of transport/public transport).
• Logis­tics for eco­no­mic deve­lop­ment (logis­tics plat­forms, mul­ti­mo­dal freight ser­vices, urban logistics).
• Acces­si­bi­li­ty in gene­ral and acces­si­bi­li­ty to sen­si­tive and stra­te­gic sites in particular.

Scientific environment

The Ave­nues (EA 7284), research team, in asso­cia­tion with the UTC's depart­ment on Urban sys­tem engi­nee­ring, is conduc­ting mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­na­ry research on the major chal­lenges facing the sus­tai­nable and smart cities of the future. The deve­lop­ment and plan­ning of urba­ni­zed areas are approa­ched from a glo­bal and sys­te­mic pers­pec­tive, inte­gra­ting issues of mobi­li­ty, ener­gy tran­si­tion, and the envi­ron­men­tal impacts of pro­jects (local pol­lu­tion, cli­mate impact, etc.), without for­get­ting the socie­tal com­ponent and the users' point of view.

The Ave­nues team is deve­lo­ping models, methods and tools to help local deci­sion-makers desi­gn, assess and com­pare future sce­na­rios for urban and regio­nal plan­ning using a mul­ti-cri­te­ria approach. Ter­ri­to­rial net­wor­king, model­ling, simu­la­tion, and flow moni­to­ring are based on the deve­lop­ment of digi­tal tech­no­lo­gies and tools that will enable data to be acqui­red, ana­ly­sed, and pro­ces­sed at dif­ferent ter­ri­to­rial scales for diag­nos­tic and deci­sion-making purposes.

The inter­con­nec­tion and opti­mi­zed mana­ge­ment of net­works, par­ti­cu­lar­ly trans­port and ener­gy net­works, require digi­tal connec­tions and a move towards “smart grids” (the concept of intel­li­gent net­work cove­rage that can be applied to ener­gy, trans­port, water mana­ge­ment, waste mana­ge­ment, etc.). The conver­gence of smart net­works applied joint­ly to trans­port and ener­gy raises ques­tions about how to opti­mize the cou­pling bet­ween elec­tri­cal ener­gy—part­ly pro­du­ced by rene­wable ener­gies—and elec­tric vehicles.

The issue of social and socie­tal accep­ta­bi­li­ty is also taken into account in this com­pre­hen­sive approach, through user par­ti­ci­pa­tion from the ear­ly stages of pro­ject defi­ni­tion and the assess­ment of needs tai­lo­red to dif­ferent pro­files. The issue of the shift towards mul­ti­mo­dal mobi­li­ty and intel­li­gent mana­ge­ment of sup­ply and demand is addres­sed at various levels: the dedi­ca­ted site, the urban area, the region, and the inte­gra­tion of the region into natio­nal and Euro­pean net­works. The Ave­nues team is deve­lo­ping this theme through a scien­ti­fic approach based on cross-dis­ci­pli­na­ry pers­pec­tives, but also through an expe­ri­men­tal and ope­ra­tio­nal approach that is being imple­men­ted through the crea­tion of urban “living labs”. Issues such as the inter­ope­ra­bi­li­ty of trans­port net­works, acces­si­bi­li­ty on dedi­ca­ted sites, the deve­lop­ment of a mul­ti­mo­dal offer inte­gra­ting soft modes, and the intro­duc­tion of new modes of trans­port (auto­no­mous vehicles, elec­tric vehicles) are cur­rent­ly being stu­died in the city of Rio de Janei­ro and on the cam­pus of its (Fede­ral Uni­vers­ty (UFRJ). Other sites are cur­rent­ly being stu­died in the Hauts-de-France region and Grea­ter Paris, in col­la­bo­ra­tion with major natio­nal trans­port players.

The Ave­nues team will also soon wel­come the natio­nal Club "Day-to-day Mobi­li­ty Cou­rante",  to its cam­pus pre­mises, in part­ner­ship with the asso­cia­tion "Oise Mobi­li­té", which will bring toge­ther the majo­ri­ty of trans­port and mobi­li­ty pro­fes­sio­nals with the aim of enabling them to work toge­ther and with teams of resear­chers on new modes of tra­vel and transport.

The “Intel­li­gent Mobi­li­ty and Ter­ri­to­rial Dyna­mics” (MIDT) chair is part of a strong com­mit­ment to consis­ten­cy bet­ween trai­ning (in urban sys­tems engi­nee­ring) and research (in urban and ter­ri­to­rial model­ling com­bi­ning mobi­li­ty, ener­gy effi­cien­cy and sus­tai­nable deve­lop­ment) and adds value to the cur­rent exper­tise of UTC and the Region on the theme of “Mobi­li­ty and Urbanity.”

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