Final presentation and workshop jury - 44e atelier "Aux rythmes de l'eau : Imaginer la métropole séquanienne"

Presentation

From 7 to 25 September 2026, Les Ateliers de Cergy are holding their 44th international workshop, "Along the rhythms of the water: Imagining the Seine Metropolis" (Aux rythmes de l'eau : imaginer la métropole séquanienne). Over three weeks, fifteen participants of different nationalities and disciplines, organised into three international and multidisciplinary teams, explore the Seine basin through field visits, meetings, debates and collective work.

The session is part of the Seine workshop cycle, which focuses on the transformations of the Seine basin and the relationships between its territories. In the face of flood risks, droughts, urban overheating and pressure on soils and ecosystems, the workshop examines the shift from a logic of controlling water to one of coexisting with water and living systems. The question put to the teams is: how can the metropolis be rethought through water and living systems to make it more liveable, resilient and inclusive?

Participants address three dimensions: living with the Seine and its tributaries in a dense city exposed to floods, droughts and overheating; connecting housing, uses and living environments by integrating practices of care into the transformation of inhabited spaces; and designing forms of governance and cooperation capable of anticipating conflicts over use and making water a lever for transformation at the metropolitan scale.

Carola Hein, Professor of History of Architecture and Urban Planning at Delft University of Technology and holder of the UNESCO Chair "Water, Ports and Historic Cities", and 2026-2027 fellow in residence at the Paris IAS (City of Paris Chair) is a member of the jury assessing the teams' proposals.

Programme of the final presentation and jury day – 25 September 2026

• 9:00 am: welcome coffee
• 9:30 am: opening remarks
• 9:55 am: presentation of the topic and key issues of the workshop by the workshop pilots
• 10:15 am: presentations of the international teams' proposals (30 minutes of presentation and 30 minutes of Q&A with the jury for each team), with a coffee break
• 1:30 pm: lunch, jury debates and discussions
• 3:00 pm: conclusions of the jury's deliberations, discussion with participants and the audience
• 4:30 pm: closing of the workshop

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