EuropanC17 A L i v i n g C i t i e s 2

The purpose of this collection of texts is to suggest perspectives and develop an interdisciplinary point of view on the 17th session of Europan, Living Cities 2, in order to inspire the teams that enter the competition. The diversity of the authors’ backgrounds and fields of expertise or research is itself an indication of the many threads linking the city and the living world. I would like to thank them warmly for agreeing to take up their pens to guide the candidates and to give knowledgeable expression to what this new session of Europan can contribute in terms of support in the design and implementation of innovative projects.

We are not starting entirely from scratch, in terms of the formal responses, since this session will be the second to explore this theme.

In session 16, I was struck by the power of the concept of living cities, and the appetite among young designers to mine it for new ideas and new ways of visualising cities and territories. From geography to naturalist ecology, from industrial memory to toponymy, the submissions were determined to show that the “already there” is fundamental to a lasting and sustainable vision of urban development. It is a lesson for more established figures who hesitate to follow the path of ecological transition, and specifically that of frugality in land use, a particular ambition at the Department of Ecological Transition. It is also a significant indication of what interests the younger generation in terms of architectural and urban design, partway between creation and conversion for a built legacy that is of such value in both cultural and environmental terms.

In many projects, we could see a new, powerful and detailed respect for natural ecosystems, for landscape, for know-how. We could measure the new awareness in the profession’s emerging generations of the failings of predatory, resource-intensive, short-termist and profit-driven development. We observed with interest these attempts to find a new path to meeting the needs expressed by clients and local authorities. And finally, we could see a strong commitment to longterm perspectives —geology, the slow transformation of territories and land— at the same time as an emphasis on the ecological emergency. What we perhaps found lacking, in that first session of Living Cities, which —it should not be forgotten— was marked by the shock caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and its effects, what we found lacking was… architectural projects! Let me explain and try to convey the feeling I experienced throughout that session and beyond, an impression that often strikes me about this new generation of designers. The growing pace of climate change and biodiversity erosion are making young architects timid about the stance to adopt towards implementing projects. There is a great deal of uncertainty about what solutions to choose in order to avoid the damage caused by the previous generations, or to avoid creating new problems. It is tempting to do as little as possible, to limit one’s aspirations to cleaning up the existing fabric and reviving natural spaces and species. In this respect, the frugality and subtlety of certain proposals were applauded. But needs still have to be met: homes, food, hospitality, production, education, connection… Tomorrow’s world will have to learn to solve the difficult problem of doing better with less. This means tackling projects, built projects, settled projects, not giving up. In this session, I want to express the hope that the teams will find the way to reconcile these two imperatives. That is the objective of the competition and it is also essential in order to show positive and inclusive visions of tomorrow’s city to all those with the capacity to fulfil them.

The theme for the 17th session of Europan was decided at European level at the beginning of 2022: it would be Living Cities 2. An encore that has become standard since Adaptable Cities 1 and 2 for Europan 13-14. The setting of the theme triggers the whole cycle of the competition: the quest for sites in the participating countries, the production of the site briefs, the registration process for candidates, laying the groundwork for the subsequent submissions, jury deliberations, forums, results… and the operational follow-through.

The theme is the theoretical anchor point for this whole process, a flexible guide. It requires a particular type of approach, both situated and forward-looking, instantiated in architectural, urbanistic and landscape projects. For Europan France, it has long been the practice to sustain this theme throughout the cycle, notably through contributions from different personalities in different disciplines, this time with the publication of the Cahiers d’Europan (Europan Notebooks). So this is a Cahier C17A to open the session… and Cahier C17B will provide a retrospective analysis of the ideas put forward by the teams.

In attempting to carry out this ambitious task, which was assigned to me in October 2022, I decided to divide the question into two parts: first to explore the integration of the living world and its singularity into a spatial argument specific to architecture and the city, and then to consider the vitality specific to urban and architectural design activities in the context of bio-eco-diversity. Contributors from different disciplinary backgrounds were approached: anthropology with Perig Pitrou, ethology with Anne-Lise Dauphiné-Morer, urbanism with Daniella Perrotti and her colleagues, landscape architecture with Florine Lacroix and, of course, architecture with Fabien Gantois, Léa Mosconi and the Rijsel studio, not forgetting the engineer Alain Maugard, President of Europan France. The views put forward by all these different authors are entirely their own and independent of the Europan organisation. Moreover, their positions are not always concordant, and we have made no attempt to smooth out the differences. Both the discrepancies and complementarities that can be identified in these writings in our view constitute the rich interplay of free expression.

As the candidates prepare to design projects that answer to the practical, stringent and complex reality brought to them by municipal representatives, this collection seeks to give substance to the European theme by setting out various avenues for research. We hope that these different ideas and perspectives will help the teams of architects, landscape architects and urban designers on whom Europan’s main contribution depends.