Raphaël Besson

Raphaël Besson is an expert in urban socio-economics and a doctor of Urbanism and Territorial Sciences (from the University of Grenoble). In 2013, he founded Villes Innovations, a design consultancy based in Madrid and Grenoble that specialises in public territorial innovation, socio-economics, cultural and digital policies. Affiliated with the PACTE laboratory, its research focuses on the spaces of knowledge and innovation (creative and innovation clusters, « third places », creative and smart cities), the mutations of economy and the city production (creative economy, collaborative economy, urban lab, fab cities, tactical and temporary urbanism, biopolitics of cities) and regenerative ecosystems. His thesis explored the notion of Cognitive Urban Systems through an analysis of large-scale urban projects in Buenos Aires, Barcelona and Grenoble.