The scientific project

MATRiS is a joint research unit created on 1 January 2022, bringing together teacher-researchers from CY Cergy Paris Université and researchers from Cerema. The laboratory has four sites:

• Campus des Chênes in Cergy-Pontoise
• CY IUT branch in Argenteuil
• CEREMA territorial site in Lille
• CEREMA territorial site in Nantes

Contemporary societies and their economies cannot function without the mobility of people and goods. However, mobility also raises controversy because of its role in recurring network congestion, its impact on the environment and the climate, the reinforcement of territorial inequalities, and the planning and urban development issues it can raise. These tensions call for a rethink of the transport, mobility and development system in the context of the ecological transition and sustainable development.

The MATRiS scientific project is to identify the major transformation dynamics at work in transport and planning systems, the means to identify them, to understand the complexity of their interactions, to model them, to shed light on and even to support the changes.
 

1. A project rooted in regional science and multidisciplinarity

Bringing the two teams together anchors the MATRiS scientific project in the regional sciences, as it is of great interest for :

• The multi- and interdisciplinary dimension.
• The territorial dimension.
• The players, their rationale, interactions and coordination.
• Practical and situated studies.

The CNU sections to which MATRiS members belong are as follows:

• CNU 05: Economics/li>
• CNU 16 : Social Psychology
• CNU 19: Sociology
• CNU 23: Physical, human, economic and regional geography
• CNU 24: Spatial planning and urbanism

This academic positioning, which brings together several disciplines, enables MATRiS' scientific project to be based on proven epistemological achievements and shared approaches.

2. Changes in mobility systems as a subject of research

1. Space refers to physical space, but also to a socially and politically constructed reality. It is understood in various dimensions: urban, regional, national, European and in the form of various objects, such as infrastructures, networks, nodes or transport corridors.

2. The players: public authorities, the private sector, civil society and individuals, each with their own strategies, practices, tools, coordination methods and governance.

3. Associated with this "stakeholder" dimension are representations, which refer to frames of reference, the values held by stakeholders, implicit and explicit rules and standards, and their acceptability.

4. The technical and economic components of mobility and their measurement.

5. References to the measurement of performance and efficiency and to the signals they convey are key elements of transport policies. Rapid technical developments (energy choices, information systems, etc.) are changing the way mobility is practised. These two components are leading to a rethink of regional planning.

These four constantly interacting components are part of a temporal and diachronic analysis.
 

3 Inflection, turning point, revolution: thinking about contemporary changes in the transport system and land-use planning in the context of climate change

There are many factors involved in transforming transport and planning systems: the 'mobility' shift, which places the individual and his or her perception at the heart of the transport system, the information revolution, changes in energy systems, and the various consequences of climate change. Societies therefore need to think about change and develop strategies for adaptation and resilience. Spatial planning and urban development are potentially exposed to these changes. So how can we think about change within territorial systems, based on mobility and its interaction with spatial planning?