Across cities in crisis

In this new temporality that we are learning about, at a time when economic activity is undergoing a major slowdown, the circulation of ideas is more intense than ever. Both over-informed and eager to know – how the pandemic is evolving, how the world is organizing itself to cope, what avenues for treatment are emerging…, we are entering a period of refocusing on ourselves, of caring for our own and our network of friends and acquaintances, a period conducive to reflection. Whether it is to overcome the shock, to understand the mechanics of the crisis, to regain a foothold in the world as it is brutally revealed to us, or even to project ourselves into the future, we need and want to nourish our minds and imaginations. 

La Fabrique de la Cité’s mission is to bring people together, to invite debate, to project ourselves. For these reasons, like all organizations, our projects are disrupted by the crisis. But precisely also because its mission is to bring people together, to invite debate and to project itself, La Fabrique de la Cité must, more than ever, play its role in the intense circulation of ideas through which we are trying to partially compensate for the drastic reduction in our social interactions. 

Major epidemics have accompanied the history of cities and often forged their shape long before globalization. A fortiori, however, in a world that is not only urban but also globalized, where the circulation of ideas was, until recently, also accompanied by the circulation of goods, people… and viruses, an epidemic of this magnitude naturally calls into question the long history of the consubstantial relationship between cities and health.

This is why, with its mission of general interest, its multidisciplinary and international DNA and ten years of existence in the service of urban innovation and foresight, La Fabrique de la Cité wants to play its full role in building the foundation of ideas on which to sustain, build or rebuild urban systems in the era of the first pandemic of the 21^st century.

Starting this week, discover a series of original content offering analysis of the origins and effects of the urban health crisis:

• Across cities in crisis: from Barcelona to Medellin or Boston, La Fabrique de la Cité is mobilizing its French, European and international network to offer you, through video interviews, a world tour of “cities in crisis”. We talk about the crisis, the current state of our network, and the future.
• Behind the words: op-eds prepared by La Fabrique de la Cité team members to dig deep into “meaning”, understood as the “significance” of the words and concepts that structure urban policies and projects but also as “direction”: behind the words, what urban models, what models of society are proposed to us?