Operational, research and pedagogical approaches in Europe

lundi 22 septembre 2025
à 09:00
International Study Day

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.

01 – Operational, pedagogical and research practices
At this round table, contributors will introduce the ways in which operational, pedagogical and research practices explore the encounter between urban planning and agroecology, based on experiences in their own countries. Starting from one of the pillars of agroecology, the Diálogo de saberes, which is an appeal to those forms of knowledge that have long been excluded and marginalized from mainstream discourses, contributions will tend to sketch the diversity of practices at work, across several European countries, today.

– 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 round table recognizes the contribution of bottom-up initiatives to the establishment of alternative systems of living, production and action. These agroecological initiatives explore the commons dimension through practices of collaboration, self-organization and collective management, but not without generating social tensions or conflicts with the public realm. Contributors will explore how urban planning meets these movements and conflictual situations, while reflecting on the dimension of the commons. A multi-faceted approach will examine the diversity of actions, their obstacles and the levers used, depending on the political contexts in which they take place.

– 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 round table explores how the encounter between urban planning and agroecology is influencing urban design. In particular, it aims to show how people's ingenuity and creativity are recognized as a catalyst for new design tools capable of responding to contemporary climatic and territorial challenges. During this round table, the contributors' contributions will provide an opportunity to discuss project variations based on the specific features of the European territories represented.

– 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 ?