Seven workshops on sharing knowledge about public space
Contribution to the Manifesto for the New Parisian Aesthetic

9 workshops led by elected representatives (7 thematic and 2 cross-disciplinary) were put in place by the City of Paris to prepare contributions to “The Manifesto for a New Parisian Aesthetic”. This document  presents the 7 workshops on “Sharing knowledge” set up by Apur as a contribution to the Manifesto, knowledge largely orientated towards the evolution of public space, a major issue in current transformations.

Place de la Nation (11e et 12e) © Apur - Francois Mohrt

Apur has for a long time been involved in the documentation, analysis and evolution of Paris and wished to contribute to drawing up The Manifesto for a New Parisian Aesthetic initiated by the City of Paris. Apur therefore proposed a first series of workshops on “Sharing knowledge” on street landscape, the themes of which were:

  • Urban renewal in low-income neighbourhoods
  • Gender in public space
  • The sports aesthetic
  • New greening and mobility challenges
  • The aesthetic challenges of memory and culture
  • Accessibility in public space
  • The night aesthetic

This summary brings together documents prepared and presented by Apur as well as exchanges among the different participants from which the most relevant varbatim accounts have been extracted. 

What results is that the de-cluttering of public space is shared by all the work groups of the Manifesto as is equity which requires equivalent quality regardless of the type of neighbourhood. Public space seeks to establish a new equilibrium between its long history and the wealth of its combinations and present day expectations of having more nature, more uses and the shared construction. 

As a reminder, the overall objectives of the Manifesto are: 

  • To put in place participatory mechanisms, which all Parisians will be invited to participate in, as well as specifically targeted publics (urban planners, architects, design schools, local councils, City officials etc.)
  • Implement new aesthetic rules assembled in a document entitled “The Manifesto for a New Parisian Aesthetic”, which will be introduced both in the Local Urbanism Plan (to be reviewed in 2023) for the building and architectural aspects and in an internal steering document for that concerning street furniture
  • Make an inventory of all existing urban furniture in public spaces and the internal departments or external partners who are responsible for it, in order to begin the task of clearing public space of clutter (e.g. street furniture like signs and bollards)
  • Rethink and improve the multiple uses and cohabitation of all street furniture placed in public space 
  • Take into consideration, at the designing stage, the maintenance of urban furniture in public space. 

Resources

Documents to download

  • Workshop

    Seven workshops on sharing knowledge about public space - Contribution to the Manifesto for the New Parisian Aesthetic

    Format : pdf, 52.19 MB
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