City Of Grenoble Research Articles

Observing the gendered uses of the city to understand the perception of urban renewal: the case of Fikirtepe

How do women and men experience the urban renewal operation of their neighborhood? In what sense do the everyday social and spatial practices in informal and precarious neighborhoods illustrate the significant impact of urban renewal on place and community attachment of rural-to-urban migrants? Our research question revolves around the ways in which women and men are impacted differently by the urban transformation project of Fikirtepe neighborhood, a working-class neighborhood in downtown Istanbul in Turkey. Through a qualitative methodology analyzing how the inhabitants use space in their everyday dynamics, what “being urban” means to them, how they perceive their relationships with their neighbors, our research will expose differentiated gender relations in the urban space. As di Méo points, “gender, as a socially constructed relationship of domination based on sexual differentiation between individuals, provides a notable determinant of urban practices and representations.” [2012, p. IV]. In that sense, this article aims to contribute to the scientific debate on the differentiated uses of cities, such as the research conducted by di Méo [2012] in the city of Bordeaux and that of Louargant [2015] in the city of Grenoble. However, our research is more oriented towards the urban experience in the context of an ongoing urban transformation project. While these research focused mainly on the planning and use of a metropolis for men and women, our article will be more oriented on the representations around the urban transformation, the imaginaries associated with the living spaces from the perspective of differentiated feeling of attachment of the inhabitants.

What Was the Level of Ground Motion across Europe during the Great A.D. 365 Crete Earthquake?

Abstract Historical and archeological data report that an earthquake was felt over the whole eastern Mediterranean on 21 July A.D. 365. The impact of the tsunami it generated, which may have caused several thousands of fatalities, has been widely studied, whereas the impact of the seismic waves has hardly been explored. Here, we present simulations of the ground motion caused by the A.D. 365 event at 316 sites now instrumented by seismological stations throughout Europe. The simulation approach is based on the modeling of a series of rupture scenarios coupled with empirical Green’s functions (EGFs) obtained at the stations from a recent Mw 6.4 earthquake. The broadband and remarkably also the accelerometric records in urbanized areas can be exploited at distances as far as ∼2000 km. Then, we use three empirical models to estimate the macroseismic intensity across Europe from the simulated peak ground accelerations and peak ground velocities. The presence of stations in thick sedimentary basins (lower Danube valley, Po plain, urban accelerometric network in the alpine valley of Grenoble) shows that local basin amplification effects can dominate acceleration values at frequencies favorable to human earthquake perception (~0.5–1 Hz), even for basins located at more than 1500 km from the earthquake. Thus, our simulations indicate that the A.D. 365 earthquake was likely felt by the populations as far as the Po plain and as the city of Grenoble, about 1800 km away, and presumably in other large European basins such as the Pannonian basin. It is possible that the perception of the earthquake up to such distances contributed to its “universal” character perpetuated in archival sources. At closer distances (300–500 km), the simulated intensity levels indicate that the earthquake probably caused no damage.

Dynamic density and flow reconstruction in large-scale urban networks using heterogeneous data sources

This work proposes an estimator for the vehicle density of every road section of a large urban traffic network using a data-based approach. We assume that a limited number of flow and turning ratio sensors can be installed and that aggregate Floating Car Data are available. To validate the estimator, real data obtained in the city of Grenoble in France is used. The results show that the trajectories of the real and estimated flows and density are very close, showing the good performance of the proposed methods.

Seismic characterization of a clay-block rupture in Harmalière landslide, French Western Alps

SUMMARYIn late June 2016, the Harmalière clayey landslide (located 30 km south of the city of Grenoble, French Alps) was dramatically reactivated at the headscarp after a 35-yr-long period of continuous but limited activity. The total involved volume, which moved as sliding blocks of various sizes, was estimated to be about 2 × 10 6 m3. Two seismometers were installed at the rear of the main headscarp in August 2016, on both sides of a developing fracture delineating a block with a volume of a few hundred cubic metres. For 4 months, they continuously recorded seismic ambient vibrations and microearthquakes until the block broke. Five seismic parameters were derived from the monitoring: the cumulative number of microearthquakes (CNe), the seismic energy (SE), the block resonance frequency (fB), the relative variation in Rayleigh wave velocity (dV/V) deduced from noise cross-correlations between the two sensors and the associated correlation coefficient (CC). All parameters showed a significant precursory signal before the rupture, but at very different times, which indicates the complexity of the rupture mechanism in this clay material.

Échaillon stone from France: a Global Heritage Stone Resource proposal

Abstract Échaillon stone, a Mesozoic platform limestone from SE France, is proposed as a Global Heritage Stone Resource. The Échaillon stone quarries are located at the western termination of the Alps, near the city of Grenoble. Stone from the main Échaillon quarries is an Upper Jurassic to Berriasian bioclastic near-reef limestone, renowned for its two characteristic white and pink colours. Two ancillary quarries nearby, the Lignet and Rovon quarries, provided the Lower Cretaceous (Barremian to Aptian) Yellow Échaillon stone, of lagoonal origin. Échaillon stone's unique characteristics, resistance to weathering and high aesthetic values made it a prized building and ornamental material used in many significant historical buildings in Europe, North Africa and the USA. Although the first use of Échaillon stone in buildings dates from the Gallo-Roman period, the industrial use ranges from the mid-nineteenth century, during the heyday of the Beaux-Arts architecture period in France, to the mid-twentieth century. The reputation of Échaillon stone was bolstered by world-renowned architects, sculptors and artists who used it for historical building ornament and sculptures. By the turn of the twentieth century, production started to decline and it ceased by the middle of that century.

The Villeneuve renovation program Health Impact Assessment

Abstract We conducted a health impact assessment (HIA) on a french urban renovation program in a disadvantaged neighborhood: the Villeneuve, symbol of the architecture of the great ensembles of the 1970s. The ambitions of this new program are opening to the city, simplification of traffic, requalification of the housing stock, creation of living spaces renovation of public facilities enhancement green spaces ... so many challenges to be met for the attractiveness of the territory and its inscription in the heart of the Metropole. The HIA was conducted collaboratively with the services of the city of Grenoble, Echirolles, and the Metropole. The information used to inform the assessment included profiling the community of the Villeneuve, a comprehensive literature review focussing and semi-structured interviews. Many components of the project were evaluated: access to good quality of green and public spaces; urban design; mobility; access to shops and services and social cohesion. The HIA shows that the urban renovation program is likely to have a mix of negative and positive impacts on health, mental health, wellbeing and social cohesion. In particular on the living environment, the attractiveness, the perception of the neighborhood, on physical security and sense of security, opening of neighborhoods, mix functionality, opportunity for leisure and sports practices. In addition the program provides an opportunity to specifically target reducing health inequalities in the area. The HIA working group has co-built 47 recommendations. These recommendations were than hierarchized according to four criteria: political portability - cost- technical feasibility - temporality. This HIA is a structured approach that allowed the renovation program to be observed with a holistic vision of health around the determinants of health and encouraged partnerships and anticipate health issues as early as possible in the decision-making process of urban programs. Key messages The HIA is a structured approach that allows urban projects to be observed with a holistic vision of health around the determinants of health. The HIA encourage partnerships and anticipate health issues as early as possible in the decision-making process of urban programs.

Comparing fractal indices of electric networks to roads and buildings: The case of Grenoble (France)

We compare the fractal indices of the power grid of the city of Grenoble (France) to those computed on the spatial organization of the buildings and the road infrastructure. We assess the fractal dimensions and the curves of scaling behavior and conduct a concordance analysis. We study different districts within the city and compare the power and road networks with the built-up patterns. We show the importance of using carefully data sets from different sources and how it could sometimes make major differences ahead of further use. We conclude on the optimality of the spatial coverage of the distribution network in Grenoble.

Evaluation of long-term effect of pedestrian signage with time travel indication in Grenoble city (France)

Background:French population does not achieve recommended physical activity (PA) level. Promoting walking as an active transport mode through urban environment is a recommended strategy to maintain health. This study assessed long-term effect (1 year) of pedestrian signage in the city of Grenoble (France). The first part of our study focused on the attendance of general population living in Grenoble on two important crossroads in a neighborhood equipped with pedestrian signage. The second one studied the receptiveness to this signage of low to moderate socioeconomic status Grenoble citizens living in this neighborhood. In addition, we tried to evidence the potential impact of this signage in the latter population in term of walking activity, cardiometabolic health and motivation toward PA.Methods:For the first part of the study, we compared the attendance (number of passages manual counting) in Grenoble general population on 2 crossroads in a neighborhood equipped with signage (PSN) with 2 crossroads of a similar neighborhood not equipped (CN). For the second part of the study, we planned to specifically recruit 140 subjects (electoral lists, brochures, phone calls and mailing) in these two neighborhoods (pedestrian signage group: PSG; control group: CG). These subjects were proposed to participate in a follow-up of their health during one year. We asked if they have seen the pedestrian signage and compared these groups on daily steps number (pedometer), cardiometabolic risk (SCORE) and motivation toward PA (Self-Regulation Questionnaire for exercise) over one year period.Results:For the first part of the study, the attendance slightly increased between June and December (effect size: 0.5;p < 0.05) in PSN suggesting a transitory effect of the signage in general population. For the second part, only forty-two subjects (22 in PSG and 20 in CG) accepted to participate in this study. We failed to include low to moderate socio-economic citizens. Seventy percent of the recruited subjects did not see the pedestrian signage. This sample did not change its walking activity level, cardiometabolic risk as well as PA motivation.Conclusion:On the basis of attendance study, such a pedestrian signage might be incentive to increase PA in general population but this needs confirmation. The effects of a larger specific communication associated with this urban environment targeting particular population groups deserve to be studied.

Aggregation and travel time calculation over large scale traffic networks: An empiric study on the Grenoble City

In this paper we consider aggregation technique to reduce the complexity of large-scale traffic network. In particular, we consider the city of Grenoble and show that, by clustering adjacent sections based on a similarity of speed condition, it is possible to cut down the complexity of the network without loosing crucial and intrinsic information. To this end, we consider travel time computation as a metric of comparison between the original graph and the reduced one: for each cluster we define four attributes (average speed, primary and secondary length and heading) and show that, in case of an aggregation rate of 95%, these attributes are sufficient in order to maintain the travel time error below the 25%.

Distributed Optimal Traffic Lights Design for Large-Scale Urban Networks

In this paper, we deal with the problem of dynamical assignment of traffic light schedules in large-scale urban networks. We present a model for signalized traffic networks, based on the cell transmission model, and then a simplified model based on averaging theory. The control objective is to improve traffic, optimizing traffic indexes such as total travel distance and density balancing. We design a scheme that decides the duty cycles of traffic lights, by solving a convex program. The optimization is done in real time, at each cycle of traffic lights, so as to take into account variable traffic demands. The scalability problem is tackled through the synthesis of a distributed optimization algorithm; this reduces the computational load significantly, since the large optimization problem is broken into small local subproblems, whose size does not grow with the size of the network, together with iterative exchanges of messages with few neighbor subproblems. The performance of the proposed approach is evaluated via numerical simulations in two different scenarios: a macroscopic (MATLAB-based) Manhattan grid and a microscopic scenario (based on Aimsun simulator) reproducing a portion of the city of Grenoble, France.

How We Come to Value Nature? - A Pragmatist Perspective

Valuation studies have been mobilized to demonstrate the importance of nature to society and to incorporate concerns about nature into decision making. Although increasingly popular in ecosystem service research, such studies have also been criticized. In particular, tensions between the assumptions of valuation methods and the real-life processes of valuing have been identified. This article argues that a process-based, pragmatist approach to valuing helps to evaluate the relevance of valuation studies results. Pragmatism proposes a focus on activities through which people come to value natural elements in their everyday life rather than on the outcomes of valuing processes. Using this approach we examine three empirical cases: 1) restoration of natural springs in Finland; 2) protection of the bearded vulture in the French Alps; and 3) management of urban biodiversity in the City of Grenoble, France. Through these cases we demonstrate how nature's value to people emerges from commonplace ways of engaging with natural elements, such as domestication, inheriting and community building. We conclude by discussing the usefulness of acknowledging this kind of processes in nature conservation.

Patterns of landscape change in a rapidly urbanizing mountain region

We describe landscape changes in the context of a rapidly urbanizing mountain region, around the city of Grenoble in the French Alps. By combining a multi-source merging method and aerial photo-interpretation, we analyzed land cover dynamics during the 1998-2009 period. The analysis across 3 dates of the cartographic database for the 4450km² at 1:15,000 scale, with of 23 land cover types, showed a rapid and steady urban growth at the expense of agricultural areas, with an expansion greater than 6% during the ten-year period. A synthetic overview of changes at municipality scale showed the prominence of newly artificialized areas not only in the valleys around Grenoble but also in the main, predominantly agricultural plain areas of Bievre and Voiron. Most of the changes are contiguous to already urbanized areas. Therefore they induce limited landscape fragmentation, as new built-up areas are emerging alongside existing ones or within existing ones as part of a densification process.The results obtained for this area illustrate an emerging major preoccupation in the Western European Alps (Switzerland, Italy, Austria...), namely that the present rate of urbanization is not sustainable in the longer run in fragile Alpine valleys. In this respect, our cartographic database will provide baseline information for a participatory prospective exercise performed with local stakeholders of the Grenoble region, aiming to support sustainable land management and planning.

Urban seismology: Numerical results and real data observations on the clustering effect of buildings

Seismic design parameters for buildings are traditionally based on the seismicity of the area, the so-called site effects, and structural response decoupling with the underlying surface. It is however well known that buildings strongly affect the wavefield interacting in a non-linear way through the foundations and the surrounding soil. In dense urban areas, buildings are very close to each other, and it is reasonable to expect a collective effect known as site-city interaction (SCI). Initially, observations of this phenomenon have been made difficult by the lack of data. Now, the increased availability of continuous records from permanent seismic networks in urban areas or buildings has made SCI an important topic in urban seismology. Here, after presenting some numerical results of SCI in densely built areas, we discuss a recent study on three residential towers located in the city of Grenoble (France) exhibiting an SCI that depends on the strike angle of the seismic energy. Both numerical simulations a...

Assessment and quantification of meteorological data for implementation of weather radar in mountainous regions

The scope of this paper is to improve observation and detection of hydro-meteorological hazard over the Grenoble region which is characterised by significant changes of terrain in altitude and geomorphology. The city of Grenoble is located at a height between 200 up to 500 m, installing the weather radar in this range of elevation leads to better quality measurements, but visibility and as well coverage capability will be reduced at the other sites of the affected region. Two locations are shortlisted for the implementation of the future weather radar in Grenoble; (i) Moucherotte (1920 m a.s.l.) and (ii) Saint Eynard (1365 m a.s.l.). Several simulation and data analysis are performed to get the clear picture about precipitation variability by considering meteorological data from individual ground stations and radio sounding data as well. Compared to previous work, in this study is considered climatology of the vertical structure of the rainfall. In this context, several statistical computations are done regarding 0°C isotherm altitude. Concerning rainfall error estimation, ground clutter and screening effect, statistical calculations by using VISHYDRO code, are performed by for different quintiles for several elevation angles in both shortlisted sites. The results obtained from calculations carried out on two locations are almost similar. Also, significant under and over-estimation of rainfall error due to screening and ground clutter effect are detected. To achieve more accurate results, other sites need to be tested for further simulation. On the other hand since ground clutter, and screening effect at the Moucherotte is not too high compare with Saint Eynard, this site may be considered for implementing the future weather radar for observation of the meteorological processes over the Grenoble region.

Experimental and Numerical Evidence of the Clustering Effect of Structures on Their Response during an Earthquake: A Case Study of Three Identical Towers in the City of Grenoble, France

In this article, interpretation of an equivalent to a macroseismic intensity survey, performed in three identical stand‐alone buildings located in Grenoble, France, after an M L 4.1 earthquake, reveals a clustering effect, resulting in different levels of perception of seismic loading by inhabitants. The clustering effect is confirmed using numerical simulation; the variation of the seismic response of the building in the middle of the cluster depends on the azimuth of the seismic source relative to the building cluster. The major effect is the splitting of its resonance frequency, accompanied by a decrease in vibration amplitude. We conclude that clustering has an impact on urban effects, calling into question the validity of seismic design, which considers buildings in urban areas as stand‐alone constructions, and the interpretation of macroseismic intensity surveys conducted in dense urban areas.

La marche enjeu de santé publique et de qualité de vie

En France, l’obésité touche aujourd’hui 15% de la population et seuls 24 % des adultes atteignent le niveau d’activité physique recommandé. Face à ces enjeux de santé publique et aux préoccupations de développement durable, la marche à pied retrouve aujourd’hui une place centrale dans la recherche et les politiques publiques. La pratique a pourtant baissé et l’on observe également de fortes disparités entre le centre et les périphéries urbaines. La recherche sur l’agglomération de Grenoble s’attache à définir un indice de « marchabilité » et une représentation cartographique. Elle fournit aux acteurs de la fabrique urbaine un outil de diagnostic qui permet d’imaginer des actions ciblées en termes d’aménagement et d’informations, un développement de la marche et une amélioration de la santé des citadins.

Diversity of self-managed co-housing initiatives in France

Defining what is understood as habitat participatif (participative or co-housing) in France comes up against regulatory ambiguities and a diversity of regional contexts and micro-local situations. Taking as its starting point a survey carried out in the city of Grenoble, which has a long tradition of cooperation and participatory politics, the article analyzes this diversity to identify the common characteristics of co-housing projects and to attempt to define an ‘ideal type’. The cases are described in relation to the social changes of the twentieth century in order to illustrate the long history of the projects, which are based on a range of ideological principles, but are always characterized by three core concepts: sharing, environmental awareness, and citizen participation.

Calibration of an Integrated Land-Use and Transportation Model Using Maximum-Likelihood Estimation

The focus of this work is calibration of the land-use module of an integrated land-use and transportation model (ILUTM). The calibration task involves estimating key parameters that dictate the output of the land-use module. Hence, an algorithm based on maximum-likelihood estimation (MLE) is developed for calibration. Furthermore, the observed values of the outputs from the land-use module are assumed to admit a Gaussian error. The ILUTM methodology used here is TRANUS which is used to model the city of Grenoble in France. The aforementioned algorithm is then applied to calibrate the land-use module of the Grenoble model. The covariance of the Gaussian error term is assumed to be unknown. It is represented as a function of the land-use module inputs and "hyperparameters.â' The resulting MLE optimization problem has 111 parameters to be estimated, 90 of which are land use parameters and 21 are hyperparameters of the Gaussian covariance kernel. The performance of the proposed calibration methodology is then compared to the traditional calibration techniques used for land use and transportation models, when applied to the Grenoble land-use model. It is observed that the proposed method outperforms the traditional technique when compared based upon a given quantity of interest.

Risk perception and social vulnerability to earthquakes in Grenoble (French Alps)

The city of Grenoble (French Alps) is characterized by a rather low seismicity as well as a tectonic context prone to the occurrence of major earthquakes (M = 6). The population is therefore not used to experiencing earthquakes: this can lead to a low culture of risk, which may imply a rather high vulnerability of the population. Consequently, it is necessary to better evaluate vulnerability and to find ways of reducing it. Social vulnerability is usually evaluated through surveys focusing on residential population. When these studies are carried out by geographers, they sometimes take into account a spatial dimension by mapping the results. Here, a temporal dimension is also integrated and residents as well as users of the city, i.e. users with any activity as working, shopping, having leisure time, etc. are surveyed. The method consists in building a social and spatial representative sample through three dimensions: social (age), temporal (hour of the day) and spatial (place of residence or activity). For this reason the household travel survey was used to build the sample. The risk perception survey shows that only 16% of the sample feel exposed to earthquakes. The youngest, most qualified, the students and working people seem to better know the adequate safety measures to be taken in case of an earthquake. Besides classic statistical analyses, the answers to the questionnaire were synthesized into a vulnerability index. Once more, the most qualified are characterized by a lower vulnerability. The cartography of the survey results provides interesting conclusions for authorities in charge of risk mitigation, who could then concentrate their preventive information campaign on certain districts or social groups. Among other conclusions, these maps highlight the gap between the physical vulnerability of buildings and the confidence of the population in their resistance in case of an earthquake.

NOY: a neutrino observatory network project based on stand alone air shower detector arrays

We have developed a self powered stand alone par- ticle detector array dedicated to the observation of horizontal tau air showers induced by high energy neutrinos interacting in mountain rock. Air shower particle detection reaches a 100% duty cycle and is practically free of background when compared to Cherenkov light or radio techniques. It is thus better suited for rare neutrino event search. An appropriate mountain to valley topological configuration has been identi- fied and the first array will be deployed on an inclined slope at an elevation of 1500 m facing Southern Alps near the city of Grenoble (France). A full simulation has been performed. A neutrino energy dependent mountain tomography chart is obtained using a neutrino and tau propagation code together with a detailed cartography and elevation map of the region. The array acceptance is then evaluated between 1 PeV and 100 EeV by simulating decaying tau air showers across the valley. The effective detection surface is determined by the shower lateral extension at array location and is hence much larger than the array geometrical area. The array exposure will be 10 14 cm 2 sr s at 100 PeV. Several independent arrays can be deployed with the aim of constituting a large distributed observatory. Some other sites are already under study. At last, special care is dedicated to the educational and outreach aspects of such a cosmic ray detector.