L'analyse fractale : un outil d'écologie industrielle

Abstract

The evolution of the human societies toward a more sustainable paradigm is a complex problematic that requires a paradigm shift through societies. The understanding and the development of new urban systems forms is one of the key element of a transition toward a more sustainable world. The complexification of the urban system is considered as a key element in the development of a more sustainable city. The complex geometric nature of these systems limits our capacity to optimize them. It is then difficult to create the multiple links between the individual projects in order to coordinate them to effectively reduce the global environmental impacts of human activities. In order to assess the complexity of the spatial organization of the urban forms, the Tools developed with fractal geometry has been applied to two Montreal neighborhoods: Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension and Rivière-des-Prairies-Pointes-aux-Trembles. They have been also applied to 4 cities in Switzerland: Lausanne, Ecublens, Crissier and Jouxtens-Mézery. The results characterized and differentiate the spatial distribution of different information on different territories with a triangulation method. The fractal dimension gives the required information about the density. The lacunarity gives the information of the homogeinity and the standard deviation of the lacunarity gives the information of the clustering of the measured data. The combination of the studies of the Lausanne transport system and corresponding urban morphology with the fractal analysis has showed the relations between the urban form and the sociotechnical systems. Three different sociotechnical niches have been identified wihin the Lausanne area. The fractal analysis can, on a quantitative basis, assess the heterogeneity of the urban components. Heterogeneity is a key element of the quality of urban life, its sustainability and a component of the industrial symbiosis development. The fractal analysis could be used to assess the complexity of the human systems in order to develop relations between the human, technical and ecological dimensions of the urban system component on different scales. The fractal geometry could be used to make evolve the Euclidian urban planning toward a local stakeholder self-organizing managed process. The fractal analysis can allow the different decisions making at different scale to be done, by measuring their global impact on the urban form with systemic indicators. It is a study, planning and decision making tool that could be used for the management of the urban metabolism. The fractal analysis could make the city more sustainable by linking the different metabolic scales of the different holarchic systems that forms the city on a quantitative basis.

Date	11 Aug 2016
Original language	French
Awarding Institution	École de technologie supérieure
Supervisor	Robert Hausler (Supervisor)