PEPITE

Social preferences for ecological and landscape characteristics of linear transportation infrastructures at the territorial scale

The decline in biodiversity, exacerbated by infrastructure development and urbanisation, is a major issue. The development of Linear Transport Infrastructures (LTI) contributes to the loss and fragmentation of natural habitats. The PÉPITE project is examining how LTIs and their rights of way can be better integrated into the landscape and more respectful of ecological issues in order to mitigate their impact on the environment. However, the ecological integration of ILT can have an impact on certain characteristics, or even certain 'primary' services provided by ILT, such as access to infrastructure and its surroundings, and journey times. This is precisely what the PÉPITE research project is seeking to address by studying citizens' preferences for the ecological and landscape characteristics of transport infrastructure at the territorial level. The project then aims to understand what compromises citizens are prepared to make on the services provided by LTIs for environmental reasons. The project is interdisciplinary, bringing together seven researchers from five research laboratories in a variety of fields including environmental economics, ecological economics, landscape ecology and spatial information sciences. Using a 'research-action' approach, the project encourages interaction between researchers and local players, including the Occitanie Region, the regional public body Port Sud de France and Voies Navigables de France.

Transport accounts for a significant proportion of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in France. The transition to low-carbon public transport is crucial to achieving carbon neutrality. Tramway projects, a carbon-free form of public transport, are chosen for this analysis, as they are in line with the objectives of the 2019 Loi d'orientation des mobilités (LOM) for carbon neutrality in 2050. In this project, we studied two types of infrastructure on complementary territorial scales: tramway line extension projects on a national scale, and the Rhône-Sète canal in the Occitanie region.

The project is divided into two parts. The first part aims to understand the trade-offs that citizens are prepared to make between ecological issues and variations in travel time in their daily journeys in the case of real projects to extend tramway lines throughout France. The second part studies the construction of citizens' collective preferences for land-use planning linked to ILT, with the specific case of the Canal du Rhône à Sète. Used for river freight and tourism, the canal is threatened by rising water levels and the deterioration of its banks. Costly and ecologically damaging works would be necessary to maintain these activities. VNF and the Region must reconcile reducing the carbon footprint with preserving the landscape and biodiversity.

A national survey, using the discrete choice experiment method, gathered the preferences of 1,094 respondents on tramway line extension projects. The survey assessed people's willingness to increase their journey time according to four attributes: tree cover, access to a natural area, richness and abundance of bird species, and types of species and their habitats. Overall, the results show a general disinclination to spend more time on transport, but better landscape integration and opportunities to use nature along tram routes make people more willing to extend their journey times. Also, people's sense of inclusion in nature and the fact of receiving information about the decline in biodiversity have a significant impact on their propensity to agree to spend more time on public transport. The second part of the project uses a board game to study collective deliberation in the case of the Canal du Rhône à Sète. The results show that the co-construction of preferences improves people's knowledge and favours the choice of scenarios with less ecological impact. The project highlights a strong social demand for better integration of ILT, which is essential for guiding public policy and raising awareness of environmental issues.