Capabilities
Education, culture and science
Places for learning, creation and science engagement, open to several generations and connected to neighbourhood concerns.
New urban model · The vision takes shape
The connected city, an ecosystem of balances.
For NOVASCEND, connecting a city means linking residents, neighbourhoods, services and institutions, with or without screens. These links aim to strengthen citizenship, social justice and well-being, while supporting local activity and responsible use of resources.
From plans to everyday life
To move from ambition to a lived-in city, NOVASCEND links four scales: the needs of residents, the places and networks that meet them, the microservices that support journeys, and the teams that deliver the service over time. The map, catalogue and scenes that follow illustrate this target vision. Its effects will need to be verified with residents and local partners.
The city day to day
Functions that reinforce one another.
Learning opens possibilities for starting a business; participating helps identify needs; experimenting can turn an idea into a useful solution.
Activity
Innovation and local economy
Spaces to prototype, repair, produce, cooperate and develop income-generating activities.
Decision
Democratic life
Mechanisms to propose, debate, decide and follow the transformation of shared spaces and services.
Ties
Solidarity and inclusion
Opportunities for passing on knowledge, mutual aid and participation adapted to everyone’s age, situation and abilities.
Resources
Environment and circularity
Producing and storing energy locally, reducing waste, repairing, reusing, preserving soil and water, and studying the real effects of the solutions adopted.
Quality of life
Health, mobility and public spaces
Improving access to services, travel and meeting places, with attention to safety and well-being.
Beneath the services
Places, networks and decisions to connect.
The envisaged urban project would be grounded in everyday uses and in the local area: digital tools would support this organisation, without replacing it.
Starting pointA need expressed in the neighbourhood
- 01
Shaping the local area
Link housing, activities, facilities and green spaces, taking account of land rights and climate risks.
- 02
Connecting networks
Plan water, energy, transport and telecommunications together to make services accessible and reliable.
- 03
Organising accountability
Define who maintains, who intervenes, who verifies, and how residents are informed and can make their needs heard.
Response to be testedA service that is accessible and followed over time
From project to service delivered
- Plan
- Build
- Verify
- Operate
- Improve
With each cycle, decisions and trials with users can change the project.
Forward-looking scenarios
Microservices, at city scale.
The fictional map locates 24 microservices chosen from the target catalogue, three per family, along with five facilities cited in the P4 operating model: urban operations centre, electrical substation, drinking-water treatment plant, wastewater treatment plant and sorting centre. The “Scenarios” menu follows eight journeys between residents, teams and facilities; the seven illustrated scenes below show the places where these journeys unfold, and two uses that the map does not yet cover. Buildings and their locations remain illustrative; the P4 documents are drafts still to be validated.
24 microservices to explore8 service families · 1,355 entries catalogued, including 923 services for the public and partners
01 · The civic district
Living and deciding
- 1Find housingHousing searchLife journeys
- 2Consult remotelyTeleconsultationWell-being
- 3Propose and voteParticipatory budgetingInstitutions and rights
- 4Access with an officerAssisted and multichannel accessLife journeys
02 · The shared places
Learning and sharing
- 5Enrol in trainingVocational trainingKnowledge and creation
- 6Order locallyLocal marketplaceLocal activity
- 7Check departuresReal-time passenger informationProduction and trade
- 8Monitor the mini-gridNeighbourhood solar mini-gridCommon resources
03 · The productive edge
Producing and verifying
- 9Connect producers and factoriesProducer–factory matchingProduction and trade
- 10Publish water qualityWater qualityCommon resources
- 11View public indicatorsPublic impact dashboardCooperation and trust
The twenty-four selected services
The interactive map places them in a fictional city. This list remains available if the map does not load.
Living and settling
- Tell us onceA procedure could reuse, with the person’s consent, information already provided to a service.
- Assisted and multichannel accessAn officer, the telephone or another channel could help people who do not use digital tools.
- Allocation transparency and appealsThe criteria for allocating housing and the appeal routes could be made publicly accessible.
Caring and protecting
- Home careCare and follow-up could be organised at home, in liaison with health professionals.
- Public health alertsPublic health alerts could be sent to the residents and teams concerned.
- Genomic sequencing servicesA sequencing service could support medical research, under the applicable scientific and ethical rules.
Learning, creating and passing on
- Literacy and second chanceLiteracy and second-chance pathways could be offered to adults.
- Prototyping and fab lab bookingResidents and teams could book a workshop and equipment to build a prototype.
- Heritage interpretation by QRHeritage interpretation accessible by QR code could complement a visit to a cultural venue.
Starting up and trading
- Farm-to-city basketA basket could connect produce from nearby farms directly with city residents.
- Preference for women- and youth-led SMEsProcurement could open its markets more widely to SMEs led by women and young people.
- Programmes for startups and talentProgrammes could support young businesses and specialised skills.
Producing and distributing
- Producer–factory matchingA matching service could connect producers with processing plants.
- Dispatch and route optimisationRound planning could help coordinate deliveries between sites.
- Traceability and chain of custodyA traceability chain could document the transfers and responsibilities attached to products.
Managing resources sustainably
- Neighbourhood solar mini-gridLocal solar generation with storage could connect neighbourhood facilities.
- Treated-water reuseTreated water could be reused for suitable purposes, with its quality monitored.
- Waste picker inclusionWaste pickers could be involved in collection and recovery chains.
Deciding, guaranteeing and including
- Public scenario simulatorResidents could compare several public decision scenarios and their expected effects.
- FPIC and community land rightsA process could document free, prior and informed consent and community land rights.
- Sensor and CCTV transparency registerA register could make sensors and CCTV systems visible, along with their rules of use.
Financing, connecting and verifying
- Public impact dashboardOpen indicators could make the monitored effects of a project visible.
- Validation by an independent verifierIndependent verification could validate certain steps or data before publication.
- Warehouse receipts and pledgesWarehouse receipts could document stocks used as collateral.
How to read this map
The titles follow the wording of the catalogue (in French) where it exists; “Programmes for startups and talent” is an editorial title. The places, links and uses shown in the image are siting hypotheses. A service’s presence on the map does not mean it already has a validated operating procedure. The catalogue measures neither deployment nor usage.
The microservice inventory
Eight microservice families serving the city and its residents.
The new target catalogue brings together 1,355 entries. Of these, 923 services for the public and partners are presented in eight editorial families; 432 other entries concern, among other things, the foundation layer, operations and management. The areas and percentages relate only to the 923 services visualised. No figure measures actual deployment or use.
Back to the map of the twenty-four services ↑
The quantified breakdown is temporarily unavailable. The service families are still presented below.
01 · Life journeys
Living and settling
Easing arrival, access to housing, administrative procedures and important moments in life.
Examples: residence, settling in, housing, documents and personal services.
02 · Well-being
Caring and protecting
Linking prevention, care, safety and support for individuals and families.
Examples: health, emergencies, social protection, nutrition and services for carers.
03 · Knowledge and creation
Learning, creating and passing on
Opening access to knowledge, cultural practices and skills throughout life.
Examples: education, culture, science, training and technology transfer.
04 · Local activity
Starting up and trading
Supporting the shops, entrepreneurs and services that keep the local economy alive.
Examples: local commerce, business services, suppliers and employment.
05 · Production and trade
Producing and distributing
Connecting places of production, value chains, infrastructure and mobility.
Examples: industrial value chains, construction, transport, agriculture and export.
06 · Common resources
Managing resources sustainably
Improving the collective management of resources and reducing pressure on ecosystems.
Examples: energy, water, waste, buildings, climate and circular economy.
07 · Institutions and rights
Deciding, guaranteeing and including
Making public services more accessible, supporting participation and protecting rights.
Examples: e-government, civic governance, justice, inclusion and public information.
08 · Cooperation and trust
Financing, connecting and verifying
Getting stakeholders to cooperate, mobilising funding and making commitments verifiable.
Examples: finance, data, partners, regulators and independent auditors.
To explore next
Seven imagined scenes
Hover over a marker to display the description of the service it illustrates. On a keyboard, use Tab; on a touch screen, tap the marker.
Scene 1 / 7
Generated concept images, not photographs. The markers illustrate uses, places or facilities associated with the catalogue’s services; they do not designate people or objects as microservices. A marker may also refer to a scenario on the map. Catalogue titles and identifiers appear beneath each scene. No service is presented as already deployed.
Day-to-day operation
A service must be able to receive an alert and respond to it.
When Amina’s tap stops running, her report reaches the urban operations centre. The team checks the supply from the water treatment plant, locates the faulty pipe and organises the repair. This forward-looking example simplifies operating procedures that are still in draft.
Forward-looking example · Water outage · draft
- 01Amina → operations centreAmina reports the water outage
The tap has stopped running. Amina reports the fault at the service desk, by telephone or online. The operations centre receives her case; a sensor may also confirm the drop in pressure.
- 02Water treatment → networkThe team locates the fault using the map
The team checks that the treatment plant is still supplying the network. Pressure readings then help locate the faulty pipe.
- 03Operations centre → teamThe team repairs the pipe serving Amina
The centre passes on the area to be checked. Field staff secure the site, confirm the diagnosis and repair the pipe.
- 04Network ↔ Amina’s tapAmina checks that the water has returned
Monitoring shows that pressure has returned; Amina confirms that water is flowing at home again.
- 05Operations centre → neighbourhoodAmina and her neighbours receive a summary
The cause and the works are explained. If the fault recurs, Amina can reopen her case without starting from scratch.
If the problem persists, a resident or the operator can reopen the follow-up.
Intended effects
One vision, several collective benefits.
The effects will depend on design choices, local partnerships and real access to services. The vision sets a direction; it does not prejudge the results.
For residents
Simpler journeys between housing, health, learning, mobility and administrative procedures; more opportunities to take part and to access services close to home.
For the local economy
More direct links between skills, shops, entrepreneurs, suppliers and places of production, in order to support activity and value creation in local areas.
For energy and the environment
Services designed to monitor resources more closely, prevent waste, repair and reuse, and then measure the effects of the choices made. Neighbourhood microgrids, storage and back-up to keep services running despite variations in the sources; see sustainable mixed energy.
For institutions and collective life
Clearer cooperation between residents, local authorities, organisations and businesses, with responsibilities and results that can be tracked.
Evaluation to be developed
How can effects be judged over time?
Questions for defining future indicators with local stakeholders.
- 01 · ReliabilityDo the services work?
Continuity of water and energy supply.
- 02 · ResponseIs the response quick enough?
Incident handling time.
- 03 · ActivityDoes activity benefit the local area?
Local jobs and purchasing.
- 04 · ResourcesAre resources being preserved?
Consumption of water, energy and materials.
- 05 · ResidentsAre residents satisfied?
Feedback gathered and action taken.
Indicators under consideration: their definitions, baseline values and results remain to be established with local stakeholders. They could be the subject of a public report.
A distributed city
Opportunities within reach of the neighbourhood.
The facilities below are proposals. Their form, funding and location will need to be defined with residents and the relevant partners.
Fab labs
Turning an idea into a prototype with accessible tools, skills and materials.
Living labs
Residents and professionals could test a service, give their opinion in their own language, and then see what was changed before any extension.
Places of knowledge
Linking culture, science, training and passing knowledge between generations.
Civic spaces
Making residents’ proposals visible and organising deliberation.
Design principle
No one should be excluded by their equipment.
The smartphone can give access to some services, but it cannot be the only way in. Access routes will also need to be designed for people with limited connectivity or little familiarity with digital technology.
In person
Places and facilitators in neighbourhoods for learning, making proposals and accessing services.
Lightweight mobile
A lightweight web application, possibly usable offline for certain functions, could be studied.
Basic phone
SMS, USSD or voice could be considered where they match real usage and technical constraints.
Conditions of trust
The design should also protect land rights and personal data, anticipate climate risks, regulate sensors and surveillance, and provide for means of redress. The rules, those responsible and the checks would remain to be defined with the stakeholders concerned.
From place to trajectory
What matters is not that a neighbourhood has a workshop or a platform. What matters is what a person can learn, create and change thanks to them.