ABSTRACT
Environmental historian Gregory QUENET explores the issues often overlooked in projects to transition to low-carbon cities. The author identifies ten major challenges, illustrated with case studies, facing cities seeking to reduce their ecological footprint. He points out that the focus on green infrastructure, such as green buildings or clean transport, fails to take into account certain essential dimensions, such as dependence on certain resources, social impacts, inequalities and the historical or cultural aspects of territories. As cities seek to become low-carbon, they must also integrate issues of social justice, citizen ownership and adaptability in the face of unforeseen climatic events. The note also highlights the need for an interdisciplinary approach that encompasses not only the engineering sciences, but also the humanities and social sciences, to ensure that the solutions proposed are not too technocratic or disconnected from local realities.
The author calls on us to rethink transition strategies from a broader prism, taking into account economic, social and political factors, in order to build truly sustainable and inclusive cities.
