Les Ateliers de Cergy organized a flash international professional workshop in the Saisons district of Paris La Défense, at the request of the Etablissement Public Paris La Défense, in partnership with the City of Courbevoie, the Hauts-de-Seine Departmental Council, and private partners in the territory.

For five days, 20 local and international participants from various disciplines (urban planning, economics, environment, architecture, landscape, geography, engineering, sociology, arts...) took part in this collective work workshop in the Paris La Défense area of the Paris region.

Paris La Défense, the largest business district in Europe and the fourth most attractive business district in the world, is located northwest of the french capital, in Île-de-France. Over 60 years, the district has become an exceptional territory with international influence. Beyond being a true economic hub, the business district is a highly connected place where employees, residents, students, and even tourists cross paths throughout the year, sharing this unique, vibrant, and innovation-driven space

However, Paris La Défense has been facing growing challenges, even difficulties, in recent years: ecological crisis and adaptation to climate change, obsolescence of part of the built environment, effects of the health crisis and the rise of remote working, real estate crisis, and questioning of office real estate.

Faced with these multiple crises, a transformation of the real estate portfolio appears necessary, accompanied by a complete overhaul of the district in urban, landscape, and ecological terms, with a logic of resilience, sobriety, and repair. This represents a true paradigm shift, requiring a profound reevaluation of the principles guiding the development and redevelopment of such districts, breaking with the now obsolete urban planning model of the last century.

The workshop will focus particularly on the Saisons district, a strategic area, composed of offices, hotels, family residences, and shops, serving as a true gateway to the business district, at the dawn of significant regeneration work.

Its concrete slab urban planning, its remarkable location along the Seine, and its built environnement represent significant opportunities. What new values should then guide the future of Paris La Défense? How to enhance this unique site in a context of multiple ecological, economic, and societal crises? How can this mixed-use and residential district be reintegrated into its natural environment? What program and model for a 21st-century business district?

How can the Saisons district be the lever for the regeneration of Paris La Défense?