Les Ateliers is a non-governmental organization created in 1982 by Cergy-Pontoise’s
urban planners. They are an international network that gathers universities, decision
makers and professionals dedicated to planning, development and urban design.
The organization focuses on the practice of urban planning project management,
and organizes its workshops in order to create a place for conception and creativity.
In France as well as in other countries, these workshops are an opportunity for
the contractors to get an international point of view and groundbreaking propositions
for their local planning issues. Given the presence of many cultures and the diversity
of the education backgrounds of the participants involved in the workshops, they
are a great place for high-level debates and exchange.
Every year, Les Ateliers organizes three Students and Young Professionals Workshops
in Irkoutsk, Porto- Novo and Cergy Pontoise, on local or metropolitan urban planning
topics. Depending on the demands, Les Ateliers also organizes International Workshops
for Professionals in France, Asia, the Mediterranean region, and more recently
in Western Africa and South America.
ABOUT the city of study
Puebla’s historical city center is compact, ordered, and provides all kinds of
services. Yet, it suffers from an important depopulation. Thanks to its public
areas and exceptional monuments, the city is featuring on the UNESCO’s World Heritage
List. On the other hand, the suburbs are spreading, the public spaces are structured
around cars and public transports is inefficient. The urban sprawl is no longer
contained and the necessary investments for its functionning are no longer provided.
The ecological and social consequences of these phenomenon have been acknowledge
by the City’s authorities, and they are currently working to create planning tools
so as to develop a long-term vision.
The reflection led by Les Ateliers is structured around the city center and the
forsaken nearby districts, and will allow to identify some action threads on both
the wider scale and the public space scale. It will also allow to propose more
concrete projects and ways to implement those propositions.
ORGANIZATION OF THE WORKSHOP
The workshop will be organized according to the orignal method of Les Ateliers.
During two weeks, 24 international professionals will be divided into four teams
of six participants, with two local professionals in each team. One of them is
working for the technical services of the City of Puebla.
The early days will focus on meetings and tours. During the opening ceremony,
the local authorities will have the chance to express their views to the participants
and their particular expectations. Then, the leading committee will announce the
composition of the teams, and they will begin working on the subject - without
computers. After three days, the forum will take place. It is a key moment of
the workshop where the teams will present the first elements of their work, their
first analysis, and will freely exchange and debate with a local comittee. During
the second week, the team will finalize their productions, they will have access
to computers in order to hand in their written and graphic work that will be used
during their presentation to the international jury.
The jury is made of local actors, actors of the city’s development, the IMPLAN,
the French Embassy, AFD representatives, Puebla’s partners and members of Les
Ateliers’network. Thus, it really is a fifth team. Its function is not to rank
the teams but to identify within the teams’ production the most relevant propositions
for the local authorities to use. The workshop is not a contest, there is neither
a prize nor a market to win.
What matters is the capacity to produce analysis, new representations, and threads
in a collective way that can be easily used for Puebla’s development.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
26TH MAY TO 9TH JUNE 2012
This workshop is for professionals of every age and nationality, and whose education
and/or work is related to urban planning: architects, geographs, landscape artists,
engineers, economists, artists... The goal is to create 4 multi-disciplinary teams.
A good command of at least two of the following languages is required:
French, Spanish, English. We must say to the young graduates that an application
with less than 3 years of experience is very unlikely to be selected.
The participants will stay in Puebla and will work in the workspace provided
for them. Documentary resources with maps and information cards introducing the
context will be available.
Participants are not paid but the following expenses are covered: flight+visas,
single room accommodation, catering, visits and work material.
The selection is made by the workshop's leading committee, based on the professional
abilities of the participants, their experience on similar projects, their approach
of the subject, their communication skills (language, graphics...) and their motivation!
For full program and requirements, download the pdf
here.