Operational, research and pedagogical approaches in Europe

Call for abstracts
english version

Du 17.06.2025
au 20.07.2025
International study day
Call for abstracts

Urbanism which deals with interpreting, describing and thinking about the current and future conditions of inhabited territories, is facing a dead-end of means in regard to the contemporary environmental challenges. Large part of Western urbanism has contributed to the deep rift in ecological relations between humanity and nature and remains firmly anchored to a paradigm that separates the urban from the agrarian, despite their long-standing mutual constitutive nature. Starting from the need to renew its theoretical and methodological approach, Urbanism has recently approached Agroecology, which is simultaneously a science, a set of practices, and a broad cultural and political movement. Indeed, Agroecology opens up new avenues for an urgent cultural and political debate on the future of inhabited territories. Agroecology is already bringing concrete answers to address the challenges related to the unsustainability of the corporative food regime, the extension of the phenomena of land grabbing and commodification of the natural commons indispensable to life on earth. Urbanism cannot but begin to confront the agroecological movement finding new spaces on the agenda of urban research, design and teaching. The encounter between urbanism and Agroecology, however, is not a foregone conclusion and raises relevant questions that researchers, designers and teachers - but also producers, policy makers and activists - should take into account.

• How are urban operational, research and pedagogical practices relating with Agroecology?
• How the encounter between Urbanism and Agroecology is exploring the emerging, and in some case conflictual, relationships between grassroots movements for agroecology and public action?
• To what extent and by what means are urban and territorial design approaching people’s resourcefulness, one of the key principles of Agroecology?

The study day ‘Urbanism meets agroecology’ is intended as an opportunity for contributors coming from all around Europe who are observing, working and teaching in this new framework to meet. Starting from these initial reflections, contributions may explore three cross-cutting themes that will be the focus – though not exclusively – of three round tables of this study day.

Round Tables

01 – Operational, pedagogical and research practices
This roundtable explores how operational, pedagogical and research practices are exploring the encounter between urbanism and agroecology. Contributions can start from one of the pillars of agroecology, the Diálogo de saberes, which is a call for those forms of knowledge that have been long excluded and marginalized from dominant narratives.

– How are urban operational practices interacting with agroecology ?
– What educational tools enable the encounter between urbanism and agroecology ?
– How does urban research on agroecology is feeding new pedagogical methods ?

02 – Grassroots movements and public action
This roundtable recognizes the contribution of bottom-up initiatives in shaping alternative systems of living, producing and acting. These agroecological initiatives explore the dimension of the commons through practices of collaboration, self-organization, and collective management, but not without raising social tensions or conflicts with the public domain. Contributions would explore how urbanism encounters these movements and these conflict situations, also reflecting on the dimension of the common.

– What tools and new approaches is Urbanism exploring to map these agroecological initiatives ?
– How can these tensions and conflicts foster the encounter between urbanism and agroecology ?
– What is the place of the common in this encounter ?

03 – Design and people’s resourcefulness
This roundtable explores how the encounter between Urbanism and Agroecology is informing urban design. In particular, this round table aims to reveal how people's resourcefulness and invention are recognized as a catalyst of new design tools that can respond to contemporary climate and territorial challenges.

– How can people’s resourcefulness enhance urban design in a context of limited resources ?
– What raw materials and tools are handled, stored and combined ?
– What anticipatory capabilities do these everyday practices can offer ?

Expected contributions and schedule
The study day will take place in the Paris region, at the École d’architecture de la ville et des territoires de Paris-Est (Ensa Paris-Est, Champs-sur-Marne) September 22, 2025. This study day is open to a wide audience. Researchers in the fields of architecture, urban planning and landscape design, as well as agronomy, political science and other disciplines (whether established or doctoral students) are invited to attend. Local stakeholders, whatever their areas of expertise and activity, will also be represented in the discussions. The study day aims to bring together knowledge, expertise and, above all, experience on the common issue of agroecology and will encourage dialogue between professionals from different backgrounds. → Responses to the call for proposals : – Responses are due by July 20, 2025 in the form of 3,000 characters text, including spaces with a title, keywords, bibiography and short biography. – Responses should be submitted in the contributor's original language with a mandatory translation into english. → Proposals should be sent to : ocs@paris-est.archi.fr and to uma2025@paris-est.archi.fr

Scientific committee
Jennifer Buyck (EUP – Université Gustave Eiffel) Carles Crosas Armengol (UPC – ETSAB) Taneha Kuzniecow Bacchin (TU Delft) Geoffrey Grulois (ULB) Emel Karakaya Ayalp (Izmir Democracy University) Elena Longhin (TUDelft) Sébastien Marot (Ensa Paris-Est – Université Gustave Eiffel) Isaline Maire (OCS – Université Gustave Eiffel) Alessandra Marcon (Università Iuav di Venezia) Maria Chiara Tosi (Università Iuav di Venezia) Etienne Randier Fraile (OCS - Université Gustave Eiffel) Chiara Tornaghi (Coventry) Raphael Bach (EPFL)

Call for abstracts
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