Mehdi Mikou’s research while affiliated with University of Paris-Saclay and other places

In recent decades, detailed country-level estimates of income and wealth have become widely available and inform us about the evolution of inequality between and within countries. But a substantial portion of these available datasets lack sub-national geographical information, precluding the exploration of the spatial distribution and evolution of inequalities within countries. We present here a new dataset of disposable income for Europe at the subnational level. It has been compiled from existing income data (gross income, gross earnings, equivalised income, etc.) published by national statistical institutes at different geographical levels. We used linear regressions and numerical operations to estimate disposable income from other available socio-economic statistics (e.g. household size, tax rates). We developed a harmonization and adjustment procedures to ensure of the consistency of statistical units, income indicators, costs of living and inflation. The dataset covers 42 European countries distributed over more than 120,000 geographical entities on the 1995 to 2021 period (most of the data being available for the 2010–2020 decade). This new dataset opens avenues for investigating the links between income inequality and other socio-economic or ecological processes.

It is increasingly recognised that the good quality of life of city dwellers depends on the provision of a variety of urban ecosystem services (UES) within cities. However, soil sealing, associated with urbanisation and densification policies, affects soil multifunctionality and compromises the supply of future UES delivered both by public and private land. Incentive-based instruments could provide additional means of action for urban open space protection. Yet, their ability to produce conservation patterns that are cost-effective has been questioned, especially when they rely on public funding. To address this concern, this paper argues that conservation return on investment (ROI) analysis can be applied to UES supply protection objectives. We present an application of this method to a purchase of development right program within the Greater Paris metropolitan area (France). We assess and map the supply variation of three urban ecosystem services in case of soil sealing using Urban InVEST. These assessments are synthesised in the form of an index that serves as an indicator of the benefits of conservation investments. Conservation investment costs are based on estimates of the value of development rights from land market data. Finally, we use an expected-benefit-cost targeting strategy to produce maps showing the distribution of open land cells according to their regulatory status and their UES supply ROI. Our findings suggest that such maps provide a valuable decision-making tool to improve the cost-effectiveness of incentive-based conservation instruments and better inform land use decision planning.

Cette évaluation de la prise en compte des services écosystémiques dans les décisions d’aménagement urbain s’inscrit dans le cadre global de l’Évaluation française des écosystèmes et des services écosystémiques (Efese). Elle vise à proposer à l’ensemble des acteurs de l’aménagement urbain une démarche d’évaluation sur laquelle s’appuyer pour intégrer les services écosystémiques associés aux milieux urbains dans les politiques d’aménagement. La démarche repose sur une analyse approfondie des documents d’aménagement, des entretiens semi-directifs avec les acteurs de l’aménagement francilien, et sur une analyse des méthodes, outils et données pouvant être mobilisés pour l’évaluation des services écosystémiques urbains et l’élaboration de scénarios prospectifs d’aménagement. L’application de cette démarche permet en particulier de décrire l’évolution spatiale et temporelle d’une sélection de services écosystémiques, et de comprendre, via une analyse de scénarios prospectifs d’aménagement urbain, les effets des choix d’aménagement sur ces services écosystémiques. Le rapport propose également des approches cartographiques permettant de cibler des outils contractuels de protection des écosystèmes sur les terrains privés, ainsi que de prendre en compte des critères socio-économiques dans les politiques de renaturation en ville. Ce cas d’étude basé sur le contexte de la région Île-de-France, ainsi que la démarche d’évaluation proposée, ont vocation à inspirer et accompagner l’élaboration de futurs projets d’aménagement urbain.