Listening to the genius loci

IHEPAT took part in the^3rd Forum de la Coopération held on May 30, 2024 at the Campus Fonderie of the Université de Haute Alsace, in Mulhouse. The Forum was organized by Ecooparc, a Société Coopérative d'Intérêt Collectif (SCIC) created in 2019 to facilitate the emergence and support of collective economic projects with high societal and territorial added value in rural areas, in the Ballon des Vosges Regional Nature Park and beyond.

With the theme "Together for living territories", this^3rd edition approached cooperation from multiple angles: cooperating by integrating links with our natural environment; cooperating to meet the societal challenges of our time, such as training, integration and food; cooperating to open up new possibilities and new ways of building projects. As part of this project, IHEPAT proposed a constellation practice in the Fonderie district, a former industrial area where the city of Mulhouse is carrying out an urban renewal project.

The constellation system enabled the professionals who experimented with it to understand the Fonderie district and its redevelopment through the expression of their feelings. This change of register allowed other types of knowledge to emerge. The group was made up of an architect-urban planner, a consultation manager, an environment, planning and housing developer, an ecological transition coordinator for a local authority, a cultural third-party project manager, a political science student and a doctoral architect. The group was asked a specific question, developed with the people in charge of the Fonderie renovation project. In a circle, the participants temporarily left their professional identities to embody different situated entities: water, future trees, derelict industrial buildings, the gate, neighbors, the ground, existing flora and fauna, former users... Once out of the circle, the practice continued with a period of assimilation and sharing of the experience.

Testimonial from Clémentine Jean, in charge of the Fonderie district in Mulhouse's urban planning department:

" I was very skeptical about the theme of the workshop, but I decided to let myself be carried away by the experience. Each participant lived the experience through the entity they represented, which was impressive to observe. I felt as if I were interacting directly with these entities, who helped me understand how to design this space for the future. It was important to realize that each entity had to take into account the existence of the others."

Testimony of Clémentine Felder, in charge of consultations at the Agence de la participation citoyenne:

"I have very positive feedback on this constellation experience. I didn't really know what to expect, but in the end I was carried away by the facilitation. The method and what it produces is very interesting and has enriched our knowledge of the perception of this site in the making. There's a real interest in letting participants choose the entity they wish to embody. It allowed me to take into account elements I hadn't thought of, and to enrich the approach."

Testimony of Claire Noyer, architect engineer and doctoral student in architecture

"This practice made me realize that designing an environment was not so much a question of space as of relationship: my own posture to the project had changed in the course of the exercise, without spatial change."

If you're interested in this practice, IHEPAT offers tailor-made training courses for architects, urban planners, landscape architects and other professionals involved in urban and rural development. These transformative practices will support you at every stage of your project, from design to stakeholder mediation.