The project aims to provide a socio-economic assessment of green nudging policies, focusing on water consumption controlling and/or proper understanding by the households of the charging system, taking into account adjustments in pricing policy that nudges, by their effects on water demand functions, may generate. From an operational point of view, it consists in developing a microsimulation model, based on econometric estimates of household water demand, to assess socio-economic returns of mix policies, combining nudges and pricing instruments, and identify financially sustainable DSM policies that improve existing pricing of water. The effects of nudges on household water consumptions are examined through the realization of controlled experiments, in laboratory and in the field. Controlled field experiments are deployed on a large scale in Gijon (Spain), Saint Paul (Reunion Island - France) and Sfax (Tunisia). Econometric estimation of residential water demand is carried out to measure basic needs of the households, price-sensitivity of demand and perceived prices of water, and to infer the effects of behavioural interventions on these factors. Using a broad set of appropriate indicators to measure affordability, incentive efficiency and distributional effects, cost-benefit analysis are conducted to infer the effects of nudges on the socio-economic performance of the existing pricing system (that may be improved) and propose optimal policies, according to well-defined decision criteria for local public decision-makers, in various frameworks. These methodologies articulate to construct a decision support model that will be posted on line, with an evaluation software package on a web platform.

This project aims at investigating how environmental conditions are intrinsically incorporated in the interplay among land uses in urban regions as a two-ways relationship. We argue that the literature is inconclusive on the adequate shape of environmentally friendly cities because the urban internal structure of city is overlooked. We first shed light on environmental attributes across the urban system to identify similar and divergent trends linked to the urban structure. Then, we provide analysis of environmental trade-offs on a sample of urban regions. This proposal is innovative in three respects (i) the knowledge it will provide by linking the internal structure of cities to the heterogeneity in behaviors and to the feedback effect between land uses and urban structure; (ii) the confrontation of cutting edge econometrics and scaling laws viewpoints on cities coming respectively from economics and geography/statistical physics and (iii) the policy recommendations.