Structures covering roadway and railway infrastructures in urban environments (that we will name “covers”) respond to multiple objectives and stakes: environmental and social (reducing noise and environmental pollution, restoring urban flow, offering an opportunity for urban renovation), legal and contractual (superimposition of property rights and different statuses, territorial borders issues), financial (high costs, creation of property rights and value), public safety and comfort. As such, these structures play a crucial role in urban planning processes and are conceived to last (“long living town”). Further, they are also essential contributors to the sustainability of cities (“sustainable town”) and this, in its three different meanings: energetic, economic and societal. Our intention in the following report is to offer a methodology, along with tools for planning and putting into practicea concept which, despite its complexity, is still yet neither the subject of a “doctrine” nor of specific rules. This lack of a global vision, a systemic approach, and planning and design tools restrains without any doubt an optimal use of this concept for urban renewal. Our project is positioned within a broad and diverse group of discussions and research in this area, carried out by consortium partners and other entities: we can here mention studies led by the City of Paris in the framework of its GPRU (Great Urban Renewal Project) and for the design and construction of Boulevard Périphérique (Ring Road) covers, as well as APUR’s research, the PREDIT program, the ANR projects GERMA and RESILIS, and the TRACI project. We have gathered around this project academics (Paris Est University, EIVP and Tecomah) as well as the City of Paris, IREX which represents contractors, and consulting engineers: Arcadis and Egis. These partners cooperate regularly, within the framework of research programs or projects. These are strongly involved within the “Advancity pole” and the “IEED Ville Durable” proposal. Our program’s primary goal is a multidisciplinary characterization of covers, through the setting up of an urban, legal, organizational and technical analytic grid, and its use through existing projects. The results of this first phase will serve as the starting point for establishing methodology and evaluation tools, for the use of owners and consulting engineers, who currently do not hold such tools. This second goal shall apply to the projects themselves and their role played in the nearby urban environment, as well as to the expressed interests of political and economical actors, and by the public itself. At this stage, we will also aim to identify and analyze the relevant legal issues, and the tools that may be used by the owner to plan, design and operate such equipments. The third scientific goal, proposed within a multidisciplinary and systemic approach, is the creation of a decision tool under the form of a “meta-referential”. This will aim at a complexthe optimization in terms of the advantages ofsustainable development. The transfer towards design and construction engineering is CANOPEE’s fourth scientific and technical goal. In line with the first three axes of research, it aims at putting forward , innovative methods of design and construction of covers, in view of their exploitation. The proceedings of this research will provide the actors of these projects with evaluation and decision-making tools, as well as recommendations to optimize their planning, design, construction and operation processes. The number and size of the concerned projects and the high stakes they represent for cities’ sustainability, are the founding bases of this research project.

URBAN LEARNING gathers capitals and other large cities across Europe facing the common challenge of considerable population growth while being committed to significantly reduce fossil energy consumption and CO2 emissions. E.g. Stockholm grew by more than 12.000 people / a (1.5%); in the next 10 years Vienna has to build for 200.000 new people. Efficient and effective planning processes will be crucial for climbing this mountain. Vienna, Berlin, Paris, Stockholm, Amsterdam/Zaanstad, Warsaw and Zagreb aim to enhance the capacity of their local authorities on integrative urban energy planning, as response to new challenges from EU EPBD and RES directives as well as to changes of technologies and market conditions and the pressure to provide sufficient, affordable homes. The focus is put on the governance processes related to the (re-)development of concrete sites. While some cities already started ambitious urban development projects, the institutionalisation of these experiences is missing - despite awareness and willingness, due to lack of knowledge, lack of time and the need for collaboration across departments, which is not a common practice in many administrations in Europe. External stimulus is needed to overcome these barriers, and to address these issues collectively with external key stakeholders, such as DNOs and energy suppliers, and across cities. Focus will be on multi-disciplinary learning – concentrating on innovative technological solutions, instruments and tools as well as on innovative governance elements - and to capitalise this learning to institutionalise integrative urban energy planning. Improving the governance processes is expected to have significant energy impacts on homes and workplaces to be built and refurbished for over 3 million more people in the participating cities in the next 20 years: more than 1.700 GWh/a of energy savings and over 2.000 GWh/a renewable energy produced. Special emphasis is put on knowledge transfer to 150 more cities.

GreenStorm targets nature-based solutions designed to manage stormwater (NBSsw) as a means of urban transition, with a specific focus on climate adaptation, resilience of urban vegetation, but also enhanced social benefits. The hydrologic and thermal performance of NBSsw during present and future climate extremes (high intensity rainfall, drought, heat waves, frost/thaw) will be assessed for a range of NBSsw structures and a wide span of European climates, by coupled monitoring / modeling. Improved NBSsw structures, and pathways for their acceptable implementation in urban areas will be developed based on cocreation workshops with all relevant stakeholders (professionals and citizens). A real case study in Copenhagen will serve to demonstrate NBS implementation in a community engaged approach and, based on a cross analysis with data and feedback from Paris, Athens, Genoa and Östersund, allow to identify drivers for NBSsw upscaling. Based on these results, potentials for widespread implementation of NBSsw at urban catchment scale will be analysed in the 5 partner countries (France, Denmark, Sweden, Greece, Italy) and the hydrologic/hydraulic and thermal benefits modelled.

Health status is the result of complex interrelationships between individual behaviors and contextual characteristics in which we live. The FabHealth project aims to explore the effects of an urban development program on both environmental exposure (air quality, noise, transport, foodscape), health-risk behaviors (dietary, physical activity and sedentary lifestyle) and health. Based on a “natural experiment” design, we will collect and analyze individual and contextual data to assess changes throughout the renewal of the Saint-Denis Canal. This project is based on a consortium that brings together geographers, epidemiologists, expert in physico-chemical instrumentation, urban planners and stakeholders allowing an interdisciplinary and participatory approach. The results will help define public health and urban planning policies.