Cédric Van Styvendael: "This Isn't Just About Social Justice Anymore, It's About Climate Survival"

Villeurbanne: a working-class, densely populated, diverse city. What has this city taught you that you wouldn’t have learned elsewhere?

Villeurbanne has taught me that hope is possible, even in the most difficult times. It is a city with a strong working-class history, a tradition of collective engagement, and an ability to rally around shared projects. In a national context marked by mistrust and withdrawal, it reminds me every day that we can still believe it’s possible to achieve something together. This is perhaps the most valuable lesson a territory can teach those who govern it.

You advocate the idea that the ecological transition cannot be imposed “from above.” In Villeurbanne, how have you developed a grassroots approach to ensure that this transition is experienced as a shared project rather than as an imposed constraint?

When it comes to the ecological transition, there are two overlapping issues: the question of life, in the broadest sense, and the much more immediate question of whether we can continue to live in our cities as they are. Our approach in Villeurbanne starts from this concrete reality: if you want to continue living in this city when temperatures approach 45 or 47 degrees in the summer, we must begin implementing a number of changes right now. This isn’t some distant projection, but a reality for which we must actively prepare.

When we frame the question for residents in this way, not “how to save the planet” but “how to continue living here”, their perspective shifts. The transition is no longer an ideological abstraction; it becomes a practical necessity, tangible in everyday life. When parents realize that their children can’t go to school in May because it’s 34 or 35 degrees in the classrooms, their awareness takes on a different dimension. It’s not easy, and it’s not enough to solve everything. But it’s a real starting point, rooted in lived experiences.

Your report “Together, Rebuilding the City” highlights segregation and climate vulnerability in disadvantaged neighborhoods. What solutions have you already implemented in Villeurbanne that could be replicated elsewhere?

The report “Together, Rebuilding the City” poses a simple yet fundamental question: How do we continue to invest in disadvantaged neighborhoods, and why? For a long time, the answer was obvious: to improve the quality of housing, reduce poverty, and combat social segregation. These reasons remain valid. But the report introduces a new and urgent dimension: these neighborhoods are also the most exposed to climate risks, on average, three to four times more so than other areas. This is no coincidence; it is the result of decades of urban planning choices that have concentrated the most vulnerable populations in the least resilient environments: less vegetation, less thermal insulation, fewer green spaces, and more impervious surfaces.

Renovating these neighborhoods is therefore no longer just a matter of social justice; it is also a matter of climate survival. The two issues are intertwined, and this convergence should compel our country to massively accelerate urban renewal. Solutions exist: renaturation of public spaces, high-performance building insulation, creation of cooling islands, and energy efficiency. What is needed is the political will and the resources to implement them at scale.

What do you think a “successful” community will look like in twenty years?

I am convinced that the role of an elected official today is not to control everything or plan everything. It is to forge alliances—with residents, economic stakeholders, organizations, researchers, and other local governments—and to open up possibilities where we thought there were none left. Even when the situation seems at a standstill. Even when resources are scarce. Even when discouragement sets in. A successful region in twenty years will be one that has managed to maintain this ability to collectively imagine and build what seemed impossible yesterday.