Objectives
This seminar explores the intersection of architectural, social, environmental, political and regulatory issues relating to the built heritage. With this in mind, it explores the themes of temporal reconfigurations, social productions and the appropriation of built heritage, focusing in particular on the expertise, competence and legitimacy of heritage ‘makers’, with a special emphasis on mediation, experimentation and raising awareness of heritage.
This seminar aims to become a key forum for analysing the spatial effects of funding mechanisms that complement ministerial policies (such as the Heritage Lottery Fund or crowdfunding), with a particular focus on rural or declining areas. These rural areas, often caught up in competitive strategies for tourism development and revitalisation—as are cultural or natural landscapes, small and medium-sized towns, and urban regeneration neighbourhoods—will all be at the heart of our research. Finally, this seminar examines the growing role of innovation, namely participatory or inclusive schemes, as well as virtual reality, etc.

Topics covered
– Urban and rural policies and heritage designations
– Protection and conservation measures
– Approaches to the consumption or reuse of cultural heritage : tangible/intangible/virtual ; protected/unprotected
– Expertise, competence and legitimacy of heritage ‘makers’
– Competitive approaches to tourism development ; participatory schemes ; funding mechanisms ; transformation of cultural landscapes ; urban regeneration districts ; energy transition and civic practices ; bio- and geosourced materials ; urbex practices ; etc.

Seminar content
Presentation of international case studies : Italy, Romania, China, Japan, Nepal, the United States…
Guests : DRAC Île-de-France, École de Chaillot (dir.), ABF, ACMH, Fondation du patrimoine, association presidents, craftspeople, etc.
Partnerships : Politecnico di Milano, the Faculties of Architecture and Urban Planning in Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca (Romania), the Brittany Region, ENSA Bretagne, etc.
Languages spoken by teaching staff : English, Italian, Romanian, German, Japanese, Mandarin
Places available : 15 places in Paris – 12 places via Erasmus

Workshops (since 2020)
– Maisons-Laffitte / 2024–2025
Workshop at the Château de Maisons-Laffitte in partnership with the CMN and the start-up Ygor : art installations and participatory performances during the 2025 edition of ‘Rendez-vous aux jardins’
– Bégard, Brittany / 2023–2024
Workshop on heritage, programmatic and urban analysis of the former psychiatric hospital on the site of the Cistercian abbey. Partners : the “Eff&t” chair and the S9 project group (coord. B. Weber), with the CAUE of the Côtes d’Armor
– Sibiu, Romania / 2021–2022
Design workshop for the Astra Ecomuseum’s stand at the International Cultural Heritage Fair, 2022 edition
– Meauce, Burgundy / 2020–2021
Full-scale construction workshop for a poetic trail and scenography at the Château de Meauce in Burgundy, a listed historic monument and Natura 2000 site

Teaching team
Ioana Iosa, seminar coordinator
Cristina Algarra
Laure Heland
Patrick Leitner
Cécile Mescam
Martin Minost
Cosme Vallet