2012 and 2013 were productive years for the Parisian Urbanism Agency. Apart from supporting urban policies, the essential role of urbanism agencies, the Agency Management Committee established a roadmap which stressed the importance of consolidating the reference databases for the cartographic collection, reforming working practices and increasing the skills base and partnerships on the outskirts of the Greater Paris Metropolis -Métropole Grand Paris-.
This activity report contains the responses delivered by the Agency with the commitment of all concerned.
The structural work has been consolidated concerning reference databases, socio-economic studies, the evolution of the urban landscape and the subjects of environment and mobility; this structural work has changed in scale and has been enriched by work undertaken in new territories, covering a much wider area.
Metropolitan Apur: databases and cartographic systems span the metropolis indeed the entire urban environment; urban, social and economic policies carried out by local authorities on different scales can thus be assembled and compared.
Examples include work on the larger landscape, energy supplies, young people, the homeless and mayors who build on their territory – les maires bâtisseurs -.
Apur’s shared platform: although the territories are separated by administrative boundaries, they are linked by their histories, their geography and the way inhabitants experience living there. Revising our working practices to include workshops, setting up platforms, gathering qualitative data to complement quantitative data, enable us to increase the sum total of data knowledge and maps by sensitively taking “reality” into account. Other viewpoints can deepen our understanding of territories. Without these evolutions in our working practice, the observatory of station neighbourhoods, the Ourcq workshops and the studies concerning key workers would not have seen the light of day.
Apur disseminates: in order to make its work as widely accessible as possible, Apur has expanded its website and newsletter by uploading a unique cartographic portal, CASSINI, which gives access to the history of the metropolis by means of superimposed maps. Two Paris projects have been published: Visible city, Hidden resources and the Atlas of Grand Paris 2013. It has also overseen the pedestrianisation of the left banks of the Seine and contributed to discussions about public space and non-drinking water in the search for solutions to make the city more resilient. The creation of simulation tools have made it possible to visualise the evolution of urban forms and the shared management of the landscape as a whole. The key components for creating a map of choices as regards energy supply have been put in place. Several projects undertaken with the support of new partners have made it possible to focus on themed studies taking territorial realities into account.
A workshop project has been set up in which all employees can participate and which will make reorganisation possible at the same time as revising our work and working methods. In addition, the general secretariat staff have set up a management and accounts monitoring platform which is essential for the efficient running of the organisation and transparency vis-à-vis our Management Committee and all our partners.
This report demonstrates the combination of “research, development, management” which responds to the increasingly challenging and innovatory urban policies. In 2014, there will be a turnover of elected representatives and the Greater Paris Metropolis - Métropole Grand Paris - will be set up; this 2012-2013 report shows what has been achieved and what has been committed to, ready for the next chapter.