L'Institut Paris Region

Digital transition, climate change, urban resilience, smart mobility, innovative ecosystems, sustainable development, collaborative economy, biodiversity, urban agriculture… In a fast-changing world, the 200 experts of the Institut Paris Region explore all dimensions of regional and metropolitan life to help local decision-makers improve the quality of life and plan for the future. Our agency works for the Paris Region’s authorities and other cities worldwide.

60 years of urban planning

The Institut d'aménagement et d'urbanisme de la région Île-de-France, known by the acronym IAU île-de-France, is a historical institution in the capital region. Created under the acronym IAURP in 1960 by Pierre Sudreau, Minister of Construction of Michel Debré's government, it was mobilized from 1961 by Paul Delouvrier, General Delegate of the brand new District of the Paris - ancestor of the Île-de-France Region - for the prodigious adventure of the development of the Paris region wanted by General de Gaulle.

The supervision of this large urban planning agency - the largest in Europe - was transferred in 1986 from the State to the Region as part of decentralization. Over the years, the IAU has kept the same format (about 200 people) and its missions have expanded. Creation of the Environment Department in 1976, the Regional Health Observatory and Safety Mission in the 1980s, the Regional Institute for Sports Development (IRDS) and training activities in the 2000s.

Under the chairmanship of Valérie Pécresse since 2016, the Institute has considerably strengthened its environmental resources by integrating the Regional Biodiversity Agency, the Regional Energy and Climate Agency and the Regional Waste Observatory into its structure in summer 2017. Then, between July 2018 and June 11, 2019, it carries out its legal transformation from a Research Foundation into a 1901 Law Association, which allows it to extend its governance to all local authorities in Ile-de-France that so wish and to major regional bodies operating in its fields of competence.

On June 11, 2019, Valérie Pécresse chaired the first general assembly of the Institute, which was enlarged in this way. She announced the completion of this transformation, which it confirmed with a new brand: the three letters "IAU" are replaced by "The Institute", and "Île-de-France" is replaced by "Paris Region", which is more internationally readable.

The new brand "L'Institut Paris Region" positions the organization as a leading scientific and technical support centre for the development and evaluation of public policies in the capital region. It also underlines the independence of its expertise and its vocation to expand internationally.

International Networking

L'Institut Paris Region is involved in a large number of networks and partnerships – from technical information services and steering committees to scientific organisations and evaluation or consultative bodies. L'Institut Paris Region also coordinates or supports clubs and associations which provide forums for discussion and analysis: association of developers, of priority urban zones, themed groups run by the Fédération Nationale des Agences d’Urbanisme. At European level, L'Institut Paris Region is involved in various programmes and projects and also in a large number of networks. These European networks are a key advantage when it comes to undertaking comparative analysis on major projects, mobility, indicators, economic strategies and housing. For several years L'Institut Paris Region has also been exporting its expertise on a significant scale initially within the Mediterranean area, in Africa and in Latin America, and then increasingly in the Middle East and Asia.

Member of
Partnerships with
Decentralized cooperations

ICOMOS - International Council for Monuments and Sites
L'Institut Paris Region represents ICOMOS as co-chair of Habitat Professional Forum of UN-Habitat, the global network of international organizations of urban professionals
IUCN - International Union for Conservation of Nature
Metrex
WCCF World Cities Culture Forum
Fedarene
World Urban Campaign of UN-Habitat
ICLEI
PFVT Partenariat Français Vilels et Territoires
MTPA - Metropolitan and Territorial Planning Agencies global network
Climate Chance
L'Institut Paris Region is an authorized NGO as Observer of COP Climate (UNFCCC)

UN-Habitat (MetroHUB and UNI)
Metropolis World association
OECD
C40
China Academy of Planning and Design
Beijing Planning and Design Institute

Hanoi
Antananarivo
Abidjan
Rufisque
Casablanca
Tunis
Yerevan
Kiev
Tchernihiv

Corporate Governance

Board of Directors of the Institut Paris Region | General Assembly of the Institut Paris Region

Membership

Regional Council

The French State

Local authorities

Other organizations

What do we do?

In 1960, a Government initiative gave rise to L'Institut Paris Region in an effort to establish a master plan for the Paris Region. Since 1983, L'Institut Paris Region has been affiliated to the Regional Council. With 55 years of experience in the developpment of the metropolis of Paris, it has progressively become involved in a wide range of urban development and planning projects on an international scale.

270 missions in 50 major urban areas

L'Institut Paris Region has realized about 270 missions in 50 major urban areas throughout the world. Examples of its experience include:

diagnosing metropolitan development
developing strategic planning documents
and transfering techniques for urban management.

Key points:

A coordinated expertise capability in most of the fields of planning and development studies, this including technologies such as remote sensing, GIS, etc.
An experience ranging from the municipal level to sub-regional, metropolitan and national territories: urban projects, development plans, strategic framework
A world-scale list of references in Middle East, Asia, Latin America and Africa, among which Cairo and Lebanon, Shanghai, Santiago, Morocco and Abidjan are some key points.

These activities abroad are carried out through contracts and consultancies ordered by foreign national and local authorities, and by French or international bodies.

Scope of activities

The team in charge of the urban development, spatial planning and territories department at L'Institut Paris Region is made up of urban architects, geographers, landscape architects and GIS specialists. On behalf of L'Institut Paris Region, they bring to bear the power of a spatial approach to territories and the leverage of projects on every scale, from urban project definition to national territorial planning. The team members are highly experienced in urban planning studies, creative workshops, international exchanges and support for project-driven initiatives on behalf of various public bodies in France and abroad.

Landscape or heritage studies conducted by L'Institut Paris Region are structuring for projects carried out by local authorities, whether they involve inventories in natural parks, potential world heritage site classification, river bank requalification, or the preservation of historic sites. They range from large landscapes to localised developments.

The mobility and transport department covers all topics relating to the movement of people and goods. With its team of engineers, architects, urban planners, statisticians and geomaticians, it provides innovative analyses and proposals, quantitative studies of mobility, modelling, economic research and a powerful geographic information system for developing various tools and methodologies designed to analyse road traffic, new modes of mobility, governance issues, intelligent transport systems (ITS), transport-oriented development (TOD) and urban logistics. Their work observing other European and global metropolitan areas is a continual source of lessons that lead to new proposals for practices and measures to be considered for adoption. Its regular contributions to territorial strategy studies as part of multidisciplinary teams also allow it to act as a force for bringing proposals forward for complex urban planning processes. For example, it has been involved in numerous projects in the Paris Region and internationally, such as the Paris Region’s urban development and mobility master plans (SDRIF, PDUIF), the regional master plans of Hanoi and Casablanca, Ethiopia’s national plan, etc.

The planning mission comprises a multidisciplinary team whose main task is to help urban planning stakeholders implement the Paris Region’s master plan (SDRIF) by providing educational material (digital tools, dedicated publications, etc.), legal advice and the means of monitoring-assessing the progress made in implementing the SDRIF. Its experience in regional planning matters relating to methodology and strategic support gives it skills across many subjects in the planning field and in the mastery of institutional processes. The division supports the coordination of the various planning exercises conducted by L'Institut Paris Region for the Paris Region. Moreover, being in charge of providing legal expertise, it has developed a monitoring and information instrument on public policies. Its know-how is at the disposal of institutions in France and abroad to help them draw up their planning documents or reform their urban planning and its governance.

The governance mission’s aim is to interpret the workings of the institutional systems of players, notably against the background of the metropolisation of the French capital-region. Its team is made up of experts in public institution law, analysis of public policies, the sociology of public action, public finances and local taxation. On behalf of the Paris Region, this department analyses changes in territorial governance. It supports the efforts of local government authorities to engage in dialogue and to think about the changes in their collaborative schemes. This ensures that these institutional issues are well taken into account by the thematic departments of L'Institut Paris Region engaged in territorial assignments. The department also helps to develop the ability to compare the governance systems of metropolitan areas across Europe and beyond. It can share its methods with all the towns, cities, metropolitan areas and regions that have embarked on a process of modernising their territorial governance.

L'Institut Paris Region is increasingly involved in a large number of networks and partnerships – from technical information services and steering committees to scientific organisations and evaluation or consultative bodies: UN-Habitat, UNESCO, Metropolis, Metrex, WCCF... It coordinates or supports clubs and associations which provide forums for discussion and analysis. In recent years, L'Institut Paris Region has been taking part in various European programmes and projects. These European networks are a key advantage when it comes to undertaking comparative analysis on large-scale urban development projects, mobility, economic strategies, housing... L'Institut Paris Region has also exported, under decentralised cooperation, its expertise to metropolises such as Abidjan, Algiers, Antananarivo, Beirut, Casablanca, Dakar, Hanoi, Beijing, Sao Paolo and Tunis, and many more.

Environment

Urban and Rural Environment
Environmental Risks and Nuisances
Biodiversity - ARB ÎDF (Paris Region Biodiversity Agency)
Energy and Climate - AREC (Paris Region Energy and Climate Agency)
Waste - ORDIF (Paris Region Waste Management Observatory)

The urban and rural environment department approaches are differentiated depending on the types of areas (more or less dense urban, suburban or rural) and of scales (from interregional or metropolitan functional areas to urban blocks, with a preference for large multi-municipal territories). Thus, the department conducts studies of all areas on whatever scale.
The development of environmental skills within L'Institut Paris Region makes people highly used to working collaboratively and to paying particular attention to linkages and interfaces, featuring systemic effects, reconciliation with nature, resilience, sustainability, etc.
The team also benefits from its great experience in spatialisation thanks to GIS tools, i.e. proven know-how in converting and matching environmental phenomena thanks to geospatial databases, data mapping and indicators.

The Paris/Ile de France region is like other areas faced with major risks be they natural or technological because of the concentration of its population, the growth of urbanisation, and the extent of the economic. The flood risk is the main natural risk to which the Paris/Ile de France region is exposed, and the region contains nearly half the floodable population in France. The area is also exposed to risks of land movements due to disused underground workings. In addition, the presence of major industrial sites, and also of high levels of traffic carrying dangerous materials potentially exposes the Paris/Ile de France region to major technological risks. L’Institut Paris Region acts as an interface between the risk analysis specialists, the central government departments, the local councillors, and the other local players. It is particularly well qualified for identifying the issues in terms of population, industrial and business activities, infrastructure and equipment, or heritage. It puts forward approaches that transform these constraints into multifunctional and innovative development opportunities to promote urban resilience.

The ARB IDF aims to assess the state of biodiversity in the Paris/Ile de France region, monitors its evolution, identifies priorities for public action, promotes good practices and raise public awareness for its protection. It brings together all public and private stakeholders to be an operational agency, a partnership, focused on the territories.

AREC works on energy efficiency and sobriety, renewable and recovered energies, climate plans and climate change, energy transition and climate. It helps to promote innovative approaches and projects, advises stakeholders and provides training programmes.

The purpose of the Regional Waste Observatory contributes to ease exchanges among stakeholders of the waste sector, facilitates the circulation of information and develops indicators. It assists local authorities in waste prevention and leads a technical community around public objectives (Zero Waste).

Economy and Society

Economy
Demography, Housing and Amenities
Prevention and Security
Health - ORS (the Health Observatory in Paris/Ile de France region)

The economics department comprises a team whose members have the skills that make it possible to understand and make sense of the overall situation, dynamics and outlook of a regional economy. At the crossroads of networks of experts and of assignments in operational support for public and private sector players, this department is also recognised for its ability, with complete neutrality, to contribute new ideas to the reflections and strategies on development and attractiveness. Finally, its detailed knowledge of the geography of the Paris Region’s economy adds much appreciated value to the decision-making support given to businesses and property investors. It is regularly active in France and abroad in collaboration with private companies. Its areas of expertise include: support for the economic component of large-scale projects; sectoral analysis and innovation; mapping and computer graphics; territorial competitiveness; local development; commercial property; territorial marketing; modelling; economic forecasting; territorial statistics; economic development and planning strategy; and the monitoring of economic indicators.

The housing and social affairs department team is made up of demographers, sociologists, geographers, urban planners, cartographers and geomaticians who devote their skills to a variety of topics: the environment and housing; population and income levels; urban policy; education including higher education; healthcare; tourism; culture and heritage. The department deals with forecasting and accessibility issues to meet the needs of public policies at territorial or regional levels in France and abroad. It uses data bases and the results of surveys to produce various analyses on the housing stock, social trends, urban amenities and the modelling of tools to help decision-making. The region's population is subject to our ongoing scrutiny: census data analysed in conjunction with INSEE, demographic projections, research on migration and social geography, and on vocational training and university education. L'Institut Paris Region is also interested in all aspects of the real estate sector - access to ownership, rental demand, vacant properties, co-ownership procedures - including recent trends relating to improving the energy performance of the house stock and certifications for buildings. In terms of urban regeneration police L'Institut Paris Region analyses the nature of social demand and living conditions in some priority urban zones as well as the situation in urban free zones.

The security of people and goods is a widespread concern today and has become a priority for the public authorities. It is a particularly important challenge for the capital region in terms of its quality of life and territorial attractiveness, a structuring factor of development policies. On the strength of the expertise gained after 15 years of existence, the Prevention and Security Mission (PSM) at L'Institut Paris Region is dedicated to these issues. With its multidisciplinary team (an urbanist, a statistician, a sociologist), it mobilises its know-how to produce studies, data, publications and training modules on questions relating to security and the prevention of delinquency. By helping to increase knowledge and understanding of these questions, it is an instrument for improved decision-making and positions itself as an observatory, resource centre and delivery platform. Its work supports the actions of the region’s elected representatives and local government departments, as well as the activities of all the stakeholders facing the challenges of risk prevention and security enhancement (municipalities, combined authorities, transport providers, social landlords, the voluntary sector, citizens, etc.).

The health department or -the Regional Healthcare Observatory/ORS- is a totally independent scientific body. It does a lot of work on describing the health (as broadly defined by the WHO) of the Paris Region’s inhabitants. The aim is to analyse the overall state of health of the Paris Region’s population and to do so by comparing it with other French regions (to bring out the Paris Region’s specificities) and with its sub-regions (to reveal internal territorial inequalities). Furthermore, the aim is to understand these results by distinguishing between individual determinants (personal behaviour patterns) and collective factors (socio-economic, environmental in the broad sense – physical, noise, pollution – working conditions, housing, the impact of supply, spatial planning, population-based approaches, etc.) to inform regional public policies in the health, social and medical fields.

Our teams

L'Institut Paris Region has more than 200 specialists who provide studies, diagnoses, territorial assessments, produce and analyse data, and conduct training.