Research

Services

The CSTB supports the professionals of the urban environment, local stakeholders and public authorities in their approaches to sustainable development.

By mobilizing multidisciplinary skill sets to encompass the most important aspects of sustainable development, it supports these stakeholders throughout the various phases of their projects, to improve urban and environmental standards and the quality of life, while fostering conditions favorable to the economic development of local areas.

Optimization of urban quality and sustainable development

Our services

  • Research programs in partnership with local stakeholders, focusing on various aspects of urban quality: urban landscape, public spaces, local identities, urban environments, etc.
  • Defining a plan for the sustainable development of the local area: the local strategic plan
  • Project consultancy and urban project management; programming, design and development recommendations
  • Providing support to sustainable urban public policies: observation and assessment of urban quality; proposals for renewed sustainable urban actions

References

Digital approaches and smart cities

Our services

  • Digital solutions to facilitate the processes of design, decision-making and communication
    • Gathering, structuring and capitalizing on standard data (CityGML)
    • Reduced-cost production of new-generation digital models (realistic 3D - 3 cm/px, semantics for scientific use)
    • Modeling and simulation of physical and environmental phenomena, representation and visualization with an urban model
    • Digital demonstrators, customized software development
  • Design assistance using urban digital models: assessment of urban and societal trends in connection with projects
    • Urban areas and forms, societal dynamics (urban populations, activities, mobility and lifestyles, etc.)
    • Representation of scenarios of urban projects and their stakes/impacts within the urban digital model
    • Phasing and timing
    • Integrated, multi-criteria neighborhood assessment method (traffic, air, noise, water, etc.)
  • Support for cooperation and communication
    • Educational representation using digital models of selected scenarios, of urban projects for the purpose of cooperation forums and their leaders
    • Providing / designing immersion equipment to facilitate communication and cooperation about projects, for example, the Le Corbusier immersive room
  • Energy management, smart networks and concealment
    • Defining assessment methods (indicators, constraints, etc.)
    • Test bench using simulation methods (SIMBAD); laboratory test bench
    • Smart Grids: assessment methods, Smart Grid Ready buildings
    • Urban monitoring for sustainable development: designing procedures, determining expectations, defining objectives, methodologies and technological aspects
    • Neigborhoods' photovoltaic potential
  • Water management
    • Water-saving strategies: reducing pollution; resource management; using sustainable materials
    • Characterizing the risks associated with using treated greywater for use outside the building
    • Characterization and evolution criteria of the microbiological quality of alternative water sources (rainwater, greywater) that can be produced, treated and stored in a building or a neighborhood
    • Determining the heat recovery yield of different recycling methods, depending on the reuse mode under consideration

References

Project management and urban management

Our services

  • Project consultancy: socio-urban and socio-residential studies, property analysis, analysis of residential practices and dynamics, qualification of residential spaces, cooperation and partnerships
  • Sustainable urban development: help with developing and conducting neighborhood management projects
  • Territorialization of local public action: contribution to the development processes of municipal and metropolitan organizations

References

Economic analysis

Our services

  • Analysis of the strategies of development operation stakeholders
  • Developing analytical tools to objectify the choices of the stakeholders in terms of development methods; to assess urban/local projects and inform local development strategies
  • Developing methods for conducting an overall evaluation of development, taking account of all costs of the various operators (investment and operation, particularly in urban management) and all benefits for the users of the city (urban quality, amenities, transportation, etc.)
  • Analysis of innovative financing mechanisms

References

Urban project assessment benchmarks

Our services

  • Supporting HQE scheme certification
  • Life Cycle Assessment of urban projects (Elodie method)
  • Feedback on sustainable urban development operations
  • Methods of observation, data collection and development of sustainable urban benchmarks
  • Assessment and integration of skills and expertise
    • Project consultancy and project management for the development and implementation of procedures for assessing urban projects
    • Mobilization and coordination of the various types of trade expertise to contribute, based on a predefined framework, to a cross-cutting approach adapted to the context of urban projects (leading working groups)
    • Optimization of assessment processes through the use of ICT (software applications, linked to digital models, etc.)

References

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