Sustainability Transitions : Multi-scale modelling of renewable energy technologies diffusion and urban resilience under a network approach in the Swiss Alps and in the South Region of France ; Transitions durables : Modélisation multi-échelles de la diffusion des technologies d’énergies renouvelables et de la résilience urbaine dans le cadre d’une approche en réseau dans les Alpes suisses et sur la Région-SUD-Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

This doctoral dissertation is an interdisciplinary research work at the intersection of geography and innovation studies through the prism of two subjects: diffusion of sustainable innovations and urban resilience to energy transition. The research work was developed in the Swiss Alps and in the South Region of France in order to deploy comparative analyses. This Ph.D dissertation investigates the regions receptivity to sustainable innovations, specifically renewable energy technologies (RET) such as solar photovoltaics, solar thermal collectors in the Swiss Alps and electric and hybrid vehicles in Switzerland at the national level. As well as the research was developed in the South Region of France were six innovation indicators were analysed: solar photovoltaics, solar thermal collectors, wind power, small and big hydroelectric power plants, biogas and biomass. The research aimed at improving our understanding on regions’ ability to integrate these innovations into their dynamics and the embedded urban resilience to energy transition, to adapt to change, accommodating disruptions in the diffusion process and develop new spatial diffusion paths. The research questions aimed at underpinning our understanding on the network effects of the RET diffusion and on the potential insights that spatial information might provide regarding such diffusion processes. The underlying assumptions were that RET diffuses across scales in a non-random fashion and describe a preferential attachment mechanism. The implication of the latter assumption is that the urban renewable energy systems exhibit fractality, which is the signature of self-organized systems. By definition, resilient systems are self-organized, so in this context, the innovation systems are analyzed in the framework of urban resilience to the energy transition. Thus, a further assumption is made and proposes that more innovative places and locations are more resilient than less innovative locations. The methodological approaches to address these research questions ...