IN-EAST News
27.04.2015 - 00:00
Prof. Yveline Lecler – Workshop on "Challenges of Doing Research Abroad" and Guest Lecture on "Low-Carbon Smart Cities in Japan"
We are pleased to announce that Yveline Lecler, Professor at the University of Lyon, Institute of Political Studies, is going to visit the Advanced School.
Workshop "Challenges of doing research abroad"
Date: Monday, APR 27, 2015. Time: 10:30–12:00 h
Venue: Building SG, Room 183
During her stay Prof. Lecler will give a guest lecture to which we cordially invite all interested scientists and students:
Guest Lecture "Towards low-carbon smart cities in Japan: Energy and the promotion of next-generation vehicles"
Date: Tuesday, APR 28, 2015. Time: 10:30–12:00 h
Venue: Building SG, Room 183
We would like to invite you for a coffee or tea after the lecture.
Please sign up on the following doodle:
http://doodle.com/ed8wic5rhpqet5pm
Workshop "Challenges of doing research abroad"
According to my experience as a researcher making field surveys and interviews in Japan since more than 30 years and as doctoral dissertations’ supervisor, the talk will aim at discussing the main difficulties encountered and the precautions to take when preparing the field and making interviews in Japanese enterprises (big or small) or administrations/institutions (at national or local level). Of course, the way to do might depend on the thematic of the research and of the Japanese language proficiency, but some general elements remain relevant being linked to cultural differences and usual way of behaving between Japanese people. Comparing with way of doing in France, and with the experience of Duisburg-Essen scholars working on China, Korea …, we will discuss on how to find and contact the right persons, introduce the research and questions to be asked, behave during meeting or field observation to collect data or needed information, follow the meeting etc.
Guest Lecture "Towards low-carbon smart cities in Japan: Energy and the promotion of next-generation vehicles"
Climate change imperatives and the need for an energy transition are on the agenda in Japan as elsewhere. Attempts to create more energy efficient or low-carbon cities are not new, as evidenced by many achievements of sustainable or eco-districts (mainly residential areas) in various European countries.
In Japan too, several policy programs have been implemented to support the development of low-carbon smart cities. These national schemes tend to overlap over time leading to numerous experimentations projects by companies and cities selected as "models" (EcoModel Cities, Smart Communities, Future Cities) under these schemes. Benefiting from the development of smart grid technology which is a new technical step in the regulation of energy demand, interesting perspectives have been opened up in order to make better use of local renewable energy production. Linking energy and urban challenges, recent years’ experimentations aim at testing on limited areas the coordinated implementation of new technologies (including smart grid) and at collecting data to foresee relevant solutions. They focus on energy efficiency of buildings and on the introduction of energy from renewable sources (solar, wind, biomass, but also in Japan hydrogen). But, they also deal with the modification of life style and thus of the behavior of citizens who are called upon changing their energy consumption trends according to information they get almost in real time, or upon purchasing EVs/PHEVs and adapt their mobility pattern: modal shift thanks to multimodal information systems or to new services (car-sharing, bike-sharing).
After having briefly introduced the main mobility characteristics in Japan and the energy transition context before and after the Fukushima accident, the presentation will first discuss the relevant policy framework (energy, GHG emissions, next-generation vehicles). Then, taking as an illustration the case of Yokohama smart city program, selected as one of the 4 Japanese "smart communities" experiments under the "Demonstration of Next-Generation Energy and Social Systems" scheme, (METI 2010–2014 fiscal years), it will address different issues (to some extend comparing with the Lyon case) such as:
- The way national policies are concretely implemented at the local level (multi-level governance, actors involved including car makers).
- The nature of experimentations (CEMS, HEMS/BEMS/FEMS, V2H/V2X, transport/EVs) and the main preliminary results (ended on March 2015, final results are not yet available though).