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What was the SAGA Paris Co-Lab?

The SAGA research co-lab in Paris took place July 2-4, and generated a series of significant findings and refocusing of research objectives through the sharing of urban spaces, interactive, dialogic, and reflective activities, encounters with new and old contexts, sites, and urbanites, as well as long-standing colleagues and ideas in development. The place of our co-lab was the City of Paris, an ancient city in the midst of a palpable ecological transition, in a moment of significant renaissance, including success in the restoration of Notre Dame cathedral, remediation of the Seine for the hosting of the 2024 Olympic Games, significant shifts in favour of active mobility, and important greening efforts. The SAGA research team also found ourselves in Paris during what was reported as , a weather event beyond un canicule referred to as a dôme de chaleur, with temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius.

Wrapped up in the heat and celebratory spirit of our particular moment in Paris, the sights of our SAGA Co-Lab included: the courtyard, staircase, rooftop and demonstration rooms of the Climate Academy, a public social institution for thinking, teaching and demonstrating climate action in the 19th Century former city hall of the Marais, in the centre of Paris; the city’s narrow roadways, passages, and pink-painted bike lanes, filled mostly with pedestrians and cyclists; the green spaces that are replacing many former hardscape plazas and schoolyards; the historic classical city gardens with their symmetry, fountains and stone; the construction site of a new ecodistrict taking shape at the former St. Vincent de Paul hospital campus; and the Maison des Etudiants Canadiens at the Cité Universitaire where the visitors among us stayed, at this historic intercultural site of welcome, just a short walk away from the ISIT campus in Arcueil.

The SAGA Paris Co-lab’s intensive day of study at ISIT-Paris Panthéon-Assas Université is summarized and digested in the report prepared by SAGA Mitacs Globalink intern, Ketlie Gerbier. The report is presented in French, while the day’s detailed research presentations, interactive word games and intensive discussions took place in English and France, with communication facilitated both ways by two professional interpreters, trained at ISIT, who spent the day with us.

Voyez ci-joint le rapport final de la journée d’études de notre co-lab à ISIT Paris, y compris l’agénda et les biographies des participants. See here the final report on the ISIT Paris day of the co-lab, along with agenda and participant bios, in French.