The laboratory works on three major research themes :

Urban democracy and participation.

Over the course of the last fifteen years, we have seen an increase in the number of participatory experiments within very diverse national and cultural contexts. The questions which arise are : how are we to analyze these new dynamics ? And to what extent do they change the methods of urban management ? Do they renew the professional interventions ? A collection of our works deals with the forms and operations of active participation in the city, one component of which analyses more precisely the production of alternative housing.


Urban spaces in transition, urban politics, practices, conflicts

Socio-spatial disparities often characterize contemporary urban spaces and raise the question of spatial justice. Several studies analyze the dynamics of change in urban spaces, the effects of public policies on the process of gentrification or renovation, the social coherence of the appropriation of spaces, whether formal or informal, the forms of cohabitation or of conflicts, and the magnitude of issues related to race.

Cities and durability

The topic of durability is one of the greatest ventures of urban development but its approaches often remain essentially technical. However, the impacts of life styles, the question of spatial justice and of participation remain at the core of the issues dealing with sustainable cities. They often open up contradictory choices.