Le développement du trafic ferroviaire dans la Grande Région SaarLorLux

E-print/Working paper (2018)

The first railways are mentioned in connection with the mining of Agricola in 1556. From the end of the 18th century onwards, the first long-distance horse-drawn railways were built, some of which created ... [more ▼]

The first railways are mentioned in connection with the mining of Agricola in 1556. From the end of the 18th century onwards, the first long-distance horse-drawn railways were built, some of which created real networks. The first railway line to use steam locomotives was the Stockton and Darlington Railway, 40 kilometres long, commissioned in 1825 in England. On the continent, the first steam railway line was opened on 5 May 1835 in Belgium, between Brussels and Mechelen, while the line opened in 1831 in France, from Saint-Etienne to Lyon, as well as the one in December 1835 in Germany, between Nürnberg and Fürth, were only rarely used by locomotives, but rather by horse-drawn vehicles. This article deals with the first railway connections in the various regions of the Greater Region SaarLorLux. [less ▲]

La production en céramique dans la Grande Région SaarLorLux

E-print/Working paper (2018)

Consisting of four entities, regions or states, located in the heart of Europe, the Greater Region SaarLorLux has long been considered a territory with a rich industrial past of great dynamism. Among the ... [more ▼]

Consisting of four entities, regions or states, located in the heart of Europe, the Greater Region SaarLorLux has long been considered a territory with a rich industrial past of great dynamism. Among the many branches of activity, there is one that has long been a flagship of its skills: ceramics. The term "ceramics" covers a certain number of very different products in terms of their appearance and properties, all made from fired clay. Over time, manufacturing techniques have evolved to produce less and less porous and finer designs. The applications of this material have thus expanded considerably. Working with clay is a long-standing tradition in this region, as the first ceramics discovered at archaeological sites are 7 000 years old. So, for thousands of years, potters made objects out of fired clay. [less ▲]

Spatial sorting, attitudes and the use of green space in Brussels

in Urban Forestry and Urban Greening (2018), 31

Extensive evidence exists on the benefits provided by urban green space (UGS) but evidence is lacking about whether and how socio-economic benefits accrue to all residents or disproportionally depending ... [more ▼]

Extensive evidence exists on the benefits provided by urban green space (UGS) but evidence is lacking about whether and how socio-economic benefits accrue to all residents or disproportionally depending on their socio-economic status or residential location. We model joint effects of socio-economic and locational attributes on attitudes and use of UGS in Brussels (BE). The analysis is based on a survey conducted along an urban-suburban continuum with respondents sampled across non-park public space. Patterns of use are depicted by the frequency and the distance travelled to the most used UGS. Attitudes are analysed along three dimensions: willingness to (i) pay for UGS, (ii) trade-off housing for green space and (iii) substitute private for public green. Our results stress the importance of separating effects of attitudes from socio-economic and locational effects to quantify UGS use, and suggest endogenous effects of green space with residential sorting. [less ▲]

City delineation in European applications of LUTI models: review and tests

in Transport Reviews (2018), 38(1), 6-32

This paper stresses the lack of attention paid to the geographical definitions of cities in LUTI models as one key detrimental aspect to transferring and generalising LUTI results. First, the ... [more ▼]

This paper stresses the lack of attention paid to the geographical definitions of cities in LUTI models as one key detrimental aspect to transferring and generalising LUTI results. First, the argumentation develops from a meta-analysis of peer-reviewed publications about LUTI applications in European cities. We show that most authors do not assess findings against potential geographical biases. Second, theoretical simulations are conducted with UrbanSim applied to a synthetic urban area. By varying the geographical limits of the system and population endowments, our simulations confirm that the absence of control on city delineation weakens the results. Finally, the paper suggests methodological guidelines to improve the comparability of LUTI applications and push forward their theoretical agenda. [less ▲]

Quantifying the shoreline connection of the Stone Age settlements in Southern Karelia (Finland)

Scientific Conference (2018)

The connection between settlement sites and water bodies has been the most prominent characteristic of the Stone Age settlement patterns in North-Eastern Europe. Geologist and archaeologist Constantin ... [more ▼]

The connection between settlement sites and water bodies has been the most prominent characteristic of the Stone Age settlement patterns in North-Eastern Europe. Geologist and archaeologist Constantin Grewingk stated already in 1865 that in the Eastern Baltic region “Stone Age people lived by the sea and rivers”. Although there was no empirical data at that time, the following discoveries confirmed this claim. The connection is so obvious that archaeological sites are effectively used as a proxy data for reconstructing past shorelines that have been changing due to isostatic land uplift and changing hydrological conditions. The goal of current paper is to give a statistical description of the settlements’ position relative to the shoreline. The case study is based on the Stone Age settlement site locations in Southern Karelia, Finland. The region is characterized by several water bodies, including lake Saimaa, as well as several smaller lakes and rivers. A small amount of settlements in the south-eastern part of the study area is also located on the paleoshorelines of the Baltic Sea. The following questions are asked: how many and what kind of Stone Age sites are shoreline-connected? How to statistically describe the distribution of distances from the settlements to the closest shoreline? Because of the abundance of lake shores in the region, it also has to be judged if the settlement pattern was formed by the economical/cultural lifeways of past inhabitants or was it just enforced by the landscape. To answer this question, it is analysed if the distribution of distances to shoreline of Stone Age sites significantly differs from the ones of later periods? [less ▲]

Homothetic Scaling of Urban Land Use and Population Density Gradients in Monocentric Models

Scientific Conference (2017, November)

Homothetic Scaling of Urban Land Use and Population Density Gradients in Monocentric Models

Scientific Conference (2017, September)

Localisation résidentielle de la population étrangère selon la nationalité et la structure urbaine au Luxembourg

Presentation (2017, June 19)

The number of foreigners living in Luxembourg is still rising and represents today about 48% of the inhabitants. This study focuses on the description and mapping of the place of residence for the ... [more ▼]

The number of foreigners living in Luxembourg is still rising and represents today about 48% of the inhabitants. This study focuses on the description and mapping of the place of residence for the different nationalities living in Luxembourg. It seeks to underline differences through indicators built from the 2011 census data. We focus on the territorial distribution of the different nationalities by taking into account the urban structure and distance to jobs. If differences according to nationalities in the residential behavior of households can be empirically identified they may raise issues of spatial equity and (un)equal accessibility to job market. We analyse whether the geographic location of different nationalities in Luxembourg is linked to urbanisation level, the distance to the “poles d´emploi” or general accessibility to jobs. [less ▲]

Des espaces verts pour une ville durable: quelle demande? Les cas de Bruxelles et Luxembourg

Conference given outside the academic context (2017)

Locational and socio-economic sorting in the use of green space: Evidence from Brussels

Scientific Conference (2017, April 08)

Urban green space is important for making cities sustainable. It provides environmental benefits and makes cities attractive to people. Extensive evidence exists on their benefits but is lacking in ... [more ▼]

Urban green space is important for making cities sustainable. It provides environmental benefits and makes cities attractive to people. Extensive evidence exists on their benefits but is lacking in quantifying how and whether socio-economic benefits of green space accrue to all households or only a portion depending on their socio-economic status and residential location. From urban economic theory we know that residential markets sort households by income along an urban–suburban continuum and the housing-transport-costs trade-off. This trade-off can however be dominated in the presence of exogenous central amenities (parks) or endogenous effects (high income attracting high income) and pull better-off households toward the center, adding discrepancies in accessibility to green amenities by different socio-economic groups. Tiebout's hypothesis implied that marginal benefits from localised amenities are the same for all households in a given location but empirics point to non-efficient sorting and endogenous effects (socio-economic sorting) in the demand for localised amenities in general. We address these questions based on results of a survey conducted along an urban-suburban continuum in Brussels (Belgium) in May 2016. The survey includes around 500 respondents sampled across (non-park) public space and malls to reach both users and non-users of green space and cover the variety of residential locations (good or bad provision of green / distant or far from the CBD). We analyse the role of proximity, size and quality of public green space on its use across different socio-economic attributes and residential/job places and stated willingness-to-pay and substitution possibilities with private green space. [less ▲]