Université PSL inaugurates the Ville Métabolisme Chair alongside PCA-STREAM, Groupama Immobilier and Artelia

Designing, building and living in the cities of tomorrow

Urban territories, complex by nature, raise crucial questions in the context of climate hazards and population growth.To answer these questions, the Metabolism Chair brings together the expertise of professors, researchers, students, architects, designers, etc. to develop a better scientific understanding of the quality of life in cities.

Based on a radical interdisciplinary approach, it will develop tools, knowledge and methods to better diagnose urban problems and enlighten decision-makers, designers and citizens. The first areas to be explored by the Chair are deliberately contrasting: the town of Saint-Dizier in Haute-Marne and the historic axis from Paris to La Défense.

Supported by PSL University and initiated by the architecture firm PCA-STREAM, the Ville Métabolisme Chair is an interdisciplinary action-research program backed by Groupama Immobilier, Artelia and PCA-STREAM.

"Pooling interdisciplinary expertise enables us to develop an innovative methodology for studying and measuring quality, and living conditions, within urban worlds.  The aim is to do science, while thinking about concrete application projects and how they fit into our landscapes.The Chaire Ville Métabolisme thus has a dimension of exploration and experimentation aimed at proposing innovative collective teaching formats to students," explains Perig Pitrou, scientific manager of the Chaire Ville Métabolisme (CNRS, Collège de France, Université PSL).

An interdisciplinary, inter-institutional chair at PSL University

The study of the city as a complex system calls for collective research to conduct interdisciplinary investigations into urban practices.Natural sciences, humanities and social sciences, engineering and architecture schools, art schools: the establishments of PSL University constitute a varied academic pool from which to develop innovative methodologies. Their research, which sheds new light on the workings of urban areas, is intended to contribute to interventions carried out by public and private operators involved in real estate construction and urban policy. These interdisciplinary experiments are also designed to train students in new professions and facilitate their integration into a changing professional world.

The Chair already involves some 40 teacher-researchers from PSL establishments: Collège de France, Mines Paris - PSL, École normale supérieure - PSL, École pratique des hautes études - PSL, ESPCI Paris - PSL, Dauphine - PSL, as well as La Fémis, École nationale d'architecture Paris-Malaquais and CNRS. Within the Chair, their work will focus on six fundamental areas of research:

• The city as a living system, an analogical approach
• Studying the evolution of cities and the coexistence of strata
• Keeping alive, keeping functioning
• Evaluating the "good health" of cities and the quality of life of their inhabitants
• Standards and governance: reflexive approaches
• Research-creation and exploring the field of possibilities

The research and teaching of the Ville Métabolisme Chair will be rooted in highly contrasting concrete study sites: the town of Saint-Dizier in Haute-Marne and the historic axis from Paris to La Défense, which will benefit from the excellence of the PSL University scientific community. A new generation of designers, decision-makers, artists and thinkers will be trained in urban issues: the Chair is born for the generation to come.

"The Chaire Ville Métabolisme is like a university hospital for the city: highly interdisciplinary research, with researchers from different backgrounds exploring concrete cases and advancing our knowledge of the city.  In an open approach, the results of which will be made public, the Chair will strengthen the links between science and design, and offer new insights into the development of cities for the next generation. PCA-STREAM has launched this initiative, with the support of Groupama Immobilier and Artelia, to serve the public interest and promote innovation through research", says Philippe Chiambaretta, founder of the PCA-STREAM agency.

Committed sponsors

On Monday February 5, 2024, at the Hôtel de l'Industrie just a stone's throw from the headquarters of Université PSL and the historic heart of the Latin Quarter, representatives of Université PSL, PCA-Stream, Groupama Immobilier and Artelia signed an agreement, formalizing their mutual commitment for a period of four years.

"The Artelia engineering group's ambition is to "Create solutions for a positive life". To achieve this, we are developing a major research program that fuels the excellence of our solutions. Our involvement in the City Metabolism Chair is both passionate and strategic. We want to pool our know-how and knowledge to build promising urban imaginations despite a more uncertain context. Considering cities as living organisms is the key to understanding their tremendous ability to generate a positive life for everyone, for a long time to come," explains Laurent Vigneau, Director of Research and Innovation, Artelia.

"Groupama Immobilier, asset manager of the Groupama Group, mutual agricultural insurer, has always been committed to the long term. Our support for research organizations, and in particular for the Chaire Ville Métabolisme at PSL University, alongside PCA-STREAM and Artelia, once again demonstrates our ambition to work hand in hand with public and private partners, to constantly rethink our vision of the city of tomorrow.We want to pass on to future generations a sustainable, sober and resilient heritage: it's only through collective intelligence that we'll achieve this," says Roland Cubin, Operations Director, Groupama Immobilier.

PCA-STREAM is an architecture, interior design and urban planning agency, a research center and an innovation center. We work beyond the traditional boundaries of city building, and embody in our projects and productions an interdisciplinary urban vision underpinned by a strong awareness of environmental issues. Our 100-strong team uses a wide range of tools and knowledge to support research and design. Our architectural and urban productions are deeply nourished by our research work: the agency is a laboratory where we explore and test solutions to the urgent needs of a changing world.

A leading player in the real estate asset management market in Paris and the Île-de-France region, Groupama Immobilier is part of the Groupama Group. As an investor, manager and creator of asset value, Groupama Immobilier's ambition is to build new horizons for its customers and investors by developing intelligent real estate designed for the city of tomorrow.ISO 9001 and 14001 certified, Groupama Immobilier is deeply committed to corporate social responsibility and sustainable development.

Present in 40 countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and the Americas, the Artelia Group combines strong skills in mobility, water, energy, building and industrial engineering.It offers a full range of services, from expertise to the delivery of complex projects in response to today's major challenges: climate change resilience, energy transition, resource conservation, advanced industry, building renewal, better urban living and multimodal mobility.In response to these challenges, Artelia offers solutions that are both innovative and realistic, bold and tangible, to help the world's citizens lead positive lives.