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Report n°1: The new constraints of urban development

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The role of technological innovation in the city of today and tomorrow

Even though we can find a great number of technological innovations in urban areas, not all of them are specifically tailored to a particular city. However, a few prominent themes could be a fertile breeding ground for technological innovations that are specific to the city. These are density, the individual/collective and centralised/localised ratios, and the two-speed city.

In 1900, one-tenth of the world's population lived in an urban environment, one-third in 1960, and today, more than half. There were 46 very large cities in 1950; today there are 187, with most of these new supercities located in developing countries. This phenomenon of large-scale concentration is accompanied by a phenomenon of declining density on a smaller scale. Active from 1900 onwards in the USA, this trend has been observed in France since 1960. While the golden age of technological innovation, as mentioned previously, corresponded to the first movement, we might ask what technological innovations are directly linked to the second movement. Those that have moulded our towns have been designed for certain high density levels. So, as this density is diminishing, it becomes apparent that the technological situation is poorly adjusted. Incremental technological innovations would thus allow all the urban services to be adapted for low-density areas: for example, research is currently underway on transformers, to allow the electricity distribution system to be adapted. But will this really be a radical innovation in our towns?

The second theme concerns the relationships between the individual and the collective, between centralised and localised authority. Historically, in industrialised nations, the main urban services have been organised in a collective and centralised manner. The current social developments, particularly noticeable in cities, seem to challenge the previous methods of organisation, since problems are increasingly being managed at the individual level. Therefore, we need technological innovations to respond to these developments.

This seems to be the case with housing conditions, where one could well imagine that one day each building will have its own individual energy supply or recycle its wastewater. Assuming this to be the case, this kind of development would certainly not challenge the concept of networks. Networks will evolve along with consumer requirements and it could result in a variety of systems, but the disappearance of networks would signify the end of collective living and a total atomisation of society.

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The theme of "two-speed" city is another topic for thought. Countries like France have, in the past, constructed and distributed a model of urban services for everyone, based on the idea of public service. This model implied a key role for local authorities, monopoly situations, price adjustments, etc. Due to varied paths of development, on an international level, this model is proving difficult to maintain or is being abandoned. This results in a splintered kind of urbanism, with the attendant threat of a city operating at several speeds, where individuals only have access to very localised services, with characteristic tunnel effects between the various areas served.

Finally, concerns about safety and sustainable development find an echo in many cities around the world. Even if the expression of these concerns remains vague and varied, they still provide a favourable environment for technological innovations to emerge. In the car industry, for example, the evolution from welded to bonded chassis responds to safety concerns, as the latter is more resistant, as well as environmental concerns, because it is lighter and thus enables reduced fuel consumption.

This analysis therefore tends to demonstrate that technological innovation is both a cause and an effect of urban development. It can play a leading role in planning our cities, but must also respond to new needs being expressed. What is essential today is to use technological innovation to promote the well-being of the global population, of which a very large majority will, in tomorrow's world, live in urban areas.

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