In September 2017, I travelled to Cergy-Pontoise in France for the 35th International Urban Planning Workshop organised by Les Ateliers de maîtrise d’œuvre urbaine. The workshop was focused on the inclusive city and its spatial and urban responses, and had 20 other participants, all selected through an international call for candidates
For many years, the Île-de-France has found itself confronted by several phenomena that question as much the idea of living together as the region’s ability to adapt to change, of which it has become necessary to rapidly address. Les Ateliers de Cergy proposed to work on the spatial and urban responses by defining the concept of an inclusive city at different sites within the Île-de-France.
Intended to be an intensive three weeks of learning and working, the workshop asked: How can exclusion be avoided by thinking about cities for all ? What forms of cooperation and mutualisation should be created between the economy, housing, and services? How can existing processes, whether they be informal or temporary, be valorised in order to facilitate the inclusion of the most vulnerable populations? Run by Véronique Valenzuela and Cécile Mattoug, the workshop asked us to imagine the inclusive city of tomorrow as a driver of value and wealth creation.
For more on the workshop and on Les Ateliers de Cergy, visit https://www.ateliers.org/en/workshops/201/
