A workshop associating Apur and the City of Paris was held on 30th January 2014 dealing with the question of the evolution of public space in Paris: new practices, new uses, the role of public space in the city’s need to adapt to climate change and the fight against urban heat islands UHI, new modes of management particularly of rainwater.
The aim was to combine points of view, to encourage the exchange of information about of experiments and innovations carried out, define and adjust action strategies in the context of a global and multi-criteria vision of public space.
The workshop was organised into two periods:
1 Knowledge of the subject/new information: work underway, scheduling, issues under debate (APUR, DU, DVD,DEVE, DPE)
- New uses and new practices,
- Urban heat islands (thermal comfort, urban forms, materials)
2 Propositions for co-ordinating practices:
- Experiments (alternative materials and techniques)
- Strategic map making
- Water policy
Two presentations were given by Apur at the workshop. Their aim was to clarify the common issues and challenges in view of defining public space in the 21st century, while being aware of new environmental and utilisation challenges.
The two themes presented at the workshop by Apur were:
1- Water: identifying available, alternative drinking water resources (rain, dewatering, surface water, non-drinking water resources…) and enhancing these as aspects of heritage linked to the history of Paris, but also as an opportunity to address the challenges linked to nature in the city, reducing urban heat islands, the pleasures linked to water…With this in mind, the rainwater zoning scheme developed by the DPE STEA is a strategic tool.
2 - New approaches to public space: this involved proposing a tool for analysis which offers a new vision of public space, with a new key and strategic maps according to the issues in hand. This approach is part of the cross-disciplinary work on Parisian public space aimed at helping to define a strategy for evolving and contributing to new ways of designing and managing public space in Paris.
