The synthesis of our last seminar has just been published. This year, it takes the form of 10 separate documents according to the different presentations and aspects of the seminar. You can read them independently or get a global view in the table of contents (here in English and French) and below:




1. About the seminar

Programme (en) (fr)
List of participants
Participants’ biographies
Photographs


2. Theoretical reflections

General presentation by Gérard Magnin, Energie-Cités Executive Director
“Daring to opt for challenges that are both sustainable and desirable” (en) (fr)
“The role of energy in the construction and uses of an urban territory”(en) (fr)


Speech by Guy Loinger, Professor at Paris 4 University
“What do we mean by foresight vision?”(en) (fr)


Speech by Dominique Bourg, Professor at Lausanne University
“Sustainable city, rejecting city” (en) (fr)

Round table discussion on foresight vision (en) (fr)


3. Testimonies, exchanges of practices and viewpoints

Speech by André Régani, former Deputy Mayor of Besançon
“Implementing a city traffic plan or how to remove obstacles to change.” (en) (fr)

Obstacles to change and obstacles to the construction of a shared territorial vision (en) (fr)

Some cities and their visions: Figueres (Spain), Greater Lyon (France) and Sutton (United-Kingdom). (en) (fr)


4. Tools and methods

Draft evaluation table of the steps towards implementing a shared territorial vision. (en) (fr)

A picture tells a thousand words: my sustainable and desirable city. (en) (fr)

Industrial chemical plants need lots of energy to run. Therefore these economics actors pay a particularly attention to energy future. Interesting for the IMAGINE concept is the approach of SOLVAY. This chemical company runs a large plant near Besancon, at Tavaux. Because of its size, the industry activities of this site are very much linked and integrated to the territory and within the local governance.

© Photography by Henri Bertand

As following of its commitment to sustainable development and as part of its long-term strategy, Solvay has been actively contributing to develop alternatives to fossil fuel in its own plants. In Tavaux, a co-generation project is being run, while a biomass fuelled power station is already active. In Germany, non-recyclable residues are used as fuel for a power station in the Bernburg plant.

Besides this, Solvay is also one of the main contributors to the SolarImpulse project, which is a long-range solar plane project currently under study. This project is being presented in an exhibition at the Saline Royal in Arc-et-Senans, where the IMAGINE annual seminars take place.

For more information on Solvay's approach to sustainability, click here.