Dans un monde de plus en plus urbanisé, qui vit une crise caractérisée en partie par les exclusions, la ségrégation et l’accélération des mobilités (T. Paquot, 2012), l’espace public est sacrifié, la qualité de vie dégradée, le mode de vie énergivore et polluant.Les villes durables peuvent-elles être considérées comme la meilleure alternative à tous les problèmes? Revenir vers la ville ancienne comme l’avait souhaité C. Sitte, peut-il constituer une solution pour demain ? Qu’en est-il de la Médina de Constantine parfois perçue comme une « non-ville » ? Qu’en est-il de son patrimoine ? Notre questionnement porte sur le rôle que peuvent jouer les espaces publics dans la revalorisation du patrimoine bâti pour en faire un lieu vivable, durable et apprécié. Dans ce contexte, la vieille ville de Constantine avec son histoire, sa morphologie et son évolution urbaine, représente le coeur de notre recherche, laquelle s’appuie sur une démarche comparative avec l’écoquartier Vauban à Fribourg-en-Brisgau qui sert comme référence pour conduire ce travail.Les espaces publics sont donc au centre de notre travail, afin de mettre en valeur le patrimoine bâti et améliorer la qualité de vie des habitants et des usagers, loin des objectifs de la seule patrimonialisation. Cette thèse de doctorat cherche à montrer que la Médina est un bon enseignement et une alternative à la ville d’aujourd’hui, notamment lorsqu’elle est croisée avec la ville durable. Nous avons choisi, d’intégrer le développement durable à la Médina à travers plusieurs sujets : l’accessibilité, la mobilité, la densité, la proximité des services, la gestion des déchets, les éléments d’ambiances qui participent à la fabrique de l’espace public, donc des paysages urbains. Afin de confirmer l’hypothèse que la Médina dispose d’une bonne base pour devenir un quartier durable, nous avons élargi notre recherche par une analyse architecturale et sociale appuyée par plusieurs sujets, à savoir la diversité de logements, la participation citoyenne, la mixité. Cela, à travers l’observation et la marche urbaine comme méthode d’analyse des usagers, des usages, des pratiques qui participent à l’attractivité et au maintien en vie des espaces publics. En somme, cette thèse décrit deux expériences que rien ne rassemble mais qui sont étroitement liées au point d’avoir plus de convergences que de divergences. Bien que, la Médina reste loin d’être performante en matière de durabilité par rapport à Vauban, la comparaison nous a amené à conclure qu’une démarche démocratique, à travers ce qu’elle crée comme liens sociaux et rencontres entre les personnes, joue un rôle très important dans la fabrique de l’espace public et dans sa capacité à offrir une meilleure qualité de vie aux habitants. Enfin, elle souligne les éléments à suivre ou à éviter pour la réussite d’un projet de revalorisation de la Médina à travers ses espaces publics et de conception d’éco quartiers qui, peut-être dureront autant que la Médina de Constantine. / Within a world more and more urbanised, which live a crisis partially characterised by exclusions, segregation, and acceleration of mobility (T. Paquot, 2012). The public space is being sacrified, the quality of life degraded, the way of life is energy consuming, and polluting. Could the eco-cities be considered as the best alternatives for all the problems? The return to the historic city like it was desired C.sitte, could it constitute a solution for tomorrow? What about the Medina of Constantine, sometimes, perceived as none city? What about its heritage? Our questioning is concerned about the role that could play the public spaces in the revalorisation of the built heritage and to make it a place of life, sustainable, and appreciated. Within that context, the ancient city of Constantine with its history, its morphology and its urban evolution, represent the heart of our research, which is based in comparative approach with the eco-neighbourhood in Freibourg-in-brisgau wich serves as a reference to lead this work. Hence, the public spaces are in the centre of our work, in order to, put in value the built heritage, and to enhance the quality of life of inhabitants, and the users, far from the objectives of just making part of heritage. This doctoral thesis seek to reveal that the medina is a good lesson, and a good alternative to the city of today, particularly when it is met with the sustainable city. We choose to integrate the sustainable development to the medina through a variety of subjects : the accessibility, the mobility, the density, the proximity of amenities, the waste management, the elements of urban ambiance that participate in the fabrication of the public space, therefore urban landscapes. In order to confirm the hypothesis that the Medina have a good bases to be a sustainable neighbourhood, we widen our research by integrating architectural and social analysis focusing in many subjects, the diversity of habitat, the citizen participation, the mixed. This through observation and the go along as a method of analysis of users, uses, practices that participate in the attractively and the maintenance of life within public spaces. In sum, this thesis describes two experiences which are not similar, but, tightly linked to the point of having more convergence rather than divergence. Although, the medina still far from performance in terms of sustainability in regards to Vauban, the comparison offer us to conclude that a democratic approach play an important role in the fabrication of public space and its capacity to offer a better quality of life for inhabitants. In the end, it underline the elements to follow or to avoid for the success of a project of revalorisation of the medina through its public spaces, and the conception of eco-neighbourhood which, could last as long as the medina of Constantine.

Sweden has been praised for its achievements, and promoted as a role model, in sustainable urban development. This thesis, comprising five separate articles and a cover essay, is a critical study of the Swedish urban sustainable imaginary. The first article examines how this imaginary is produced. Using an actor-network theory approach, I view the Swedish pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai in 2010 as a node in a wider network, arguing that the notion of decoupling GDP growth from CO2 emissions constitutes a central storyline. The second and third papers study the circulation of this imaginary in practice, specifically examining two cases of exporting Swedish sustainable urban planning to Chinese eco-city projects. Few of these plans, I note, were materialised in built form; rather, they contributed to the circulation of a repetitive model of sustainable urbanism, reinforcing a paradoxical idea of urban sustainability as “green islands of privilege”. The storyline of decoupling – and the circulating business of sustainable urbanism into which it feeds – is based on a deficient territorial view of space. In this research, I advocate a political ecology perspective and relational view of space, wherein there are no such things as sustainable or unsustainable cities. Rather, planning should aim for more just socio-environmental relations within and across urban borders. The fourth and fifth papers address the wider question of how planning can foster more socio-environmentally just forms of urban sustainability. Here, I emphasise a consumption perspective on greenhouse gas emissions as an important counter-narrative and analyse two Swedish municipalities’ efforts to lessen citizens’ consumption through policy and planning practice.   This research highlights the need to continuously develop and contest imaginaries and planning practices of sustainability, of who is perceived as “sustainable” and what a socio-environmentally just perspective might mean in practice for policy makers and planners alike. / <p>QC 20170120</p>

The continuously rising attention to and practice of eco-city development in Sweden and China, as well as the countries’ active cooperation has motivated this study and the exploration of eco-city development in these two countries. In eco-city development, diverse environmental issues may well be beyond the planning sector’s capacity and need to be resolved elsewhere by other authorities and agencies in such areas as energy, water and traffic. This may in practice require the reframing of certain institutions to ensure that relevant sector authorities, scientific institutions and actors have responsibilities for integrative tasks and can cooperate effectively. The study aims to investigate how institutional conditions affect environmental integration in urban planning. The approach used is the exploration of how different institutional conditions promote and/or hinder environmental integration by the examination of four examples of eco-city development in Sweden and China. Based on theories of institutions, Environmental Policy Integration (EPI) and sustainable urban planning, an analytical framework is used to describe institutional conditions related to formal rulemaking, informal rules and administrative management and organizations. Formal rules provide framework and legitimacy for guiding and enforcing actors in the practice of realizing environmental integration in urban planning. Meanwhile, informal rules; i.e. wills, interests, understanding and knowledge, could considerably affect the design of formal rules and how they are to be implemented. Administrative management and organization serve to realize environmental integration following the formal rules, but the informal institutional conditions of e.g. officials’ interests, understanding, knowledge and experience, as well as political support, affect the organizations’ performance and abilities for implementation, which in turn also largely depends on the specific organizational settings. All three need to be combined to achieve environmental integration in sustainable urban planning, since each one has its own strengths and weaknesses and they gradually affect each other in practices. / <p>QC 20140908</p>

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How can reimagining the way we light our cities prove to be the urban catalyst to meet targets set out in the Paris Climate Agreement? In this Master Thesis, I question how restructuring our urban lighting can provide enormous benefits for not only reducing our energy consumption and becoming more efficient societies, but also support social interaction in shaping our cities for the future. The aspects pertaining to urban lighting and its influence on our environment have been organised into economy, political and urban evolution (social) categories, as a way to dissect and appreciate lights associated role in shaping our societies. Seeking sustainable strategies to meet urgent energy targets and urban development initiatives, are no longer optional but necessary. However, even with this undisputed need for change, particularly within urban lighting, approaches taken are still very much sequestered from general understanding and lack cross-disciplinary cooperation. Extensive publications, works and teachings from lighting designers, as well as currently adopted policies from government bodies and international case studies have been considered, in order to understand current strategies adopted and their potential co-operation for a future holistic strategy in tackling climate change as well as apparent inequalities in our urban environments.