Operational monitoring for urban brownfields regeneration projects
© M.Laprise / LAST 2017
The public defense of the doctoral thesis presented by Martine Laprise and entitled “Monitoring opérationnel pour l'intégration des enjeux de durabilité aux projets de régénération de friches urbaines” took place on November 15th at the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).
Urban brownfields regeneration projects represent an important potential such as an increased density within the existing built fabric and a revitalization at the neighborhood scale. However, because of their complex nature, a large number of them refer only in an implicit, partial, or superficial manner to the notion of sustainability. To foster a proactive, structured and continuous integration of these issues into the dynamics of urban brownfield regeneration projects, this thesis proposes a specifically adapted operational monitoring tool entitled SIPRIUS+. The methodology used is based on the hybridization of existing know-how, bringing together in a new and innovative way elements from different disciplines, in order to obtain a new efficient tool.
The present thesis brings new, in-depth and up-to-date knowledge about the multiple issues associated with urban brownfield regeneration projects. This thesis also strives to bring a concrete contribution to the current practices by offering, to stakeholders involved in these interventions, new means to integrate and follow up sustainability criteria. In particular, the multiple investigations carried out, through case studies in Switzerland, Belgium and France, and interactions with local stakeholders, highlight that the suggested approach provides insightful information and knowledge for better decision making, from the initial brownfield to the regenerated site. It responds to the need for decision-making assistance from public authorities to plan the evolution of their built fabric.
Conducted under the supervision of Prof. Emmanuel Rey, Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST), this work is an integral part of the research project SIPRIUS, developed with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).