International multidisciplinary workshop "The metropolis of the Grand Séquanien Garden: Ecology and habitability of the Seine and its tributaries"

The workshop “La métropole du grand jardin séquanien” (non-definitive title) is the second part of a cycle of three international territorial creativity workshops organized by the Ateliers de Cergy, dedicated to the ecology and habitability of the Seine basin and its tributaries. It is a continuation of the first workshop “Aux sources du Grand Jardin Séquanien” (September 2025), already distinguished by the label Living with Rivers.

Fifteen young international professionals and students, volunteers, trained in complementary disciplines (architecture, urban planning, landscape, ecology, geography, social sciences), will work together for 20 days in September 2026 to explore the question: How to inhabit the Seine metropolitan and its tributaries tomorrow, facing the risks of floods and drought amplified?

The metropolitan territory of the Seine basin concentrates nearly 12 million inhabitants in an urban area historically “back to water”: canalization of rivers, artificialization of banks, waterproofing of surfaces. In the face of climate change, it is now a question of thinking about a “garden metropolis” that would deal with water rather than trying to control it. The workshop mobilizes three thematic inputs: inhabiting the metropolis through water, cultivating a metropolitan awareness of upstream/downstream interdependencies, and articulating stakeholder synergies for ecological transformation. Six major questions guide the collective work, dealing with these themes of inhabiting by exploring housing, productive spaces, governance, citizen participation and land as levers for transformation.