For the second day of the Transition Forum, this Friday, October 1st, the event began the program with a round table featuring Christian Estrosi and Anne Hidalgo. This round table was titled Ecological Transformation of Territories: How to Accelerate.
The Mayor of Paris unfortunately could not travel to the capital of the French Riviera; however, she was present via videoconference. The first question posed to her was to describe her vision of this period we are entering. This period marked by COVID, which demands so many sustainable and ecological changes, why and how to implement them?
Her response was as follows: I think that today, whether at the national or European level, we should not even talk about why, but only about how. We must not act alone, but act together for this ecological transition with economic solutions. Some people think it means giving up comfort, I don’t believe so; on the contrary, I think we will live better with these changes. Changes that need to be made in our diet, in our transport…
I agree with Nicolas Hulot when he says we need to plan things. Indeed, there are sectors that are going to be revolutionized, but also others on which we need to focus. Today, the recovery plan does not sufficiently incorporate these solutions and this reorganization.
Christian Estrosi touched on the measures he has implemented in the Nice Côte d’Azur metropolis and the city of Nice.
He mentioned, for example, the recent carbon tax for the Nice-Corsica line to ease the enormous CO2 impact, the Tram line that connects Nice from East to West, and the park-and-ride facilities at the city’s entrance.
But he also took a stand on how to implement these ecological measures: “I support non-punitive ecology, I support thoughtful ecology with elements to see the evolution of things,” “When we provide an option, people adapt, they embrace it and modify their behavior. So I’m not in favor of saying ‘this is how it is and that’s it, but I’m offering an alternative.’”
The Mayor of Nice then shared his vision of how he imagines Nice in 2030:
“I see a city where we will have developed an additional 115 hectares of green spaces, a city that reuses its wastewater to water its green spaces, with gentle transportation methods, and cooling spots everywhere.”
