/ Newsletters / ACIDD-Newsletter English version n°5- November 2008
City of Paris: Interview with Magali Vergnet : “The ‘eco-city’ is the greatest stake at hand”
Magali Vergnet is director of the cabinet of François DAGNAUD, deputy to the Mayor of Paris, in charge of the organisation and functioning of the Paris Council, and of cleanliness and of waste management. Invested since long ago in the sustainable development sector, she likewise animates a network of sustainable development activists and last year produced a work entitled “Ville durable, mode d’emploi” (How to go about creating Sustainable Towns). Turning theory into practice, this is an interview with a technician on the ground.
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One could say that towns are the laboratories of sustainable development. There are two reasons for saying this:
-In towns, problems, pollution and the expectations of the population are concentrated. Some people reject the way of life of the town but it is undeniably the place in which there is the highest concentration of jobs, housing and of activity.
- The local level is, in my opinion, the primary level, the best level on which to act. Proximity allows a higher level of responsiveness and offers the capacity for the most exact results during experiments.
The town embodies all the major stakes of sustainable development.
- What are the stakes of the town of the 21st century?
The “eco-city” is the greatest stake at hand. By this I mean a town that limits its environmental footprint by controlling its waste, use of primary sources, impact on natural habitat, which it is responsible for. But the town must at the same time work on becoming united, on employment, on social diversity, on access to housing on a limited terrain, and on access to services affordable to all. The notion of social progress is as important as that of environmental progress. These two stakes are on the same level. The fight against ecological inequalities is one connected to social inequality. It is futile to think we could have small guarded areas protected against the energy crisis and social hazards. We will only move forward if there is a sense of global solidarity.
Is economic development compatible with the ecological movement?
The economy must remain as attractive and dynamic as ever, at the same time as consuming and producing alternatively. There must be a redistribution of riches without ever stopping the meter. To set-off again, we must produce. Redistribution must work. The stakes are technological and behavioural; they underlie all sustainable development rationale.
How could you concretely work towards this?
We are looking for different models and different systems. Regarding waste, for example, the city of Paris is carrying out an experiment in a district of 50,000 inhabitants, which is the initiative of François Dagnaud, deputy to the Mayor of Paris, in charge of the organisation and functioning of the Paris Council, of cleanliness and waste management. The idea is to reduce waste production by tackling buying habits, by showing that one can consume alternatively by reflecting on how one gets to shops, their ‘store catchment area’, by proposing alternative ways of consuming such as a return to the ‘container deposit’ system, to ‘group buying’, to getting shopping delivered to the door. All economic actors will be concerned and shop keepers will also participate. The project’s driving force is education, and individual profit.
To change behaviour, the local authorities must propose alternative solutions to current habits, such as the Vélib bike system does, for example, otherwise we continue to use guilt as our main charge.
– In what way does ICT facilitate sustainable development?
In two ways: by encouraging the reduction of energy consumption and of primary sources through alternative solutions, and by improving solidarity by increasing public services, social links and networks. We must reduce the digital divide, but also fight against digital and IT ‘poverty’. Access and price must be adapted to the means of the users. Social and economic regulation is essential.
– Demonstrate an example of this in action in Paris?
We are transforming our external procedures into virtual ones, such as our services to residents, and internally, such as the preparation of the procedures of Paris Council. This avoids travel that would use a lot of energy and paper. From now on, there are no more paper documents for the sessions of the Council This amounts to a reduction of one million photocopies a year. We had to educate the politicians and representatives. Similarly for job opportunities and public markets. I will also mention the Paris Quartier Numérique operation (Digital district in Paris) that gives you access through your mobile phone to a service that acts as a directory enquiries, such as information on travel, public services, and local stores (opening hours, itineraries), in the same way that Vélib stations give information to subscribers about local practical information in order to be able to navigate the city with more ease. Digital information systems are essential for registering data with speed. Paris has created a free WIFI network in all its parks, gardens and public space, despite the problems of patrimonial integration that is inherent in a historic city, and is in the process of rebuilding its range of street furniture with this perspective in mind.
Do citizens seem to you ready to launch themselves into ICT?
Yes, but once again, I will emphasise that there must be a triple benefit: cost, use, and mastering of the risks to health. It’s up to the public authorities to lead the way with a tailored proposition.
Thinking to the future: how do you envisage the urban terrain in 50 years?
I imagine it how I hope it will be: life in an attractive megalopolis, whilst living in a neighbourhood, to optimise on the diversity of housing, services, activities, to give back the human face to urban space for those towns that are the most ecological and united and to allow each citizen to be an active part in the town, to participate in collective decision-making. In this way, ICT can be useful. Luckily many politicians are signing up to this philosophy, and some towns are leading the way in the 21st century.
See the interview with Magali Vergnet on the topic of the ‘sustainable town’
Some examples of towns that are working towards sustainability (in French)