Umarell

✨Abraxas by night ✨ Découvrez les espaces d'Abraxas à Ville de Noisy-le-Grand comme vous ne les avez jamais vus ! Samir Rouab, habitant du quartier et formé à l'architecture de ce site exceptionnel par le CAUE, vous propose une visite guidée nocturne ce samedi 30 août à 20h. Vous déambulerez dans des coursives fermées au public et découvrirez les secrets de cet ensemble hors-normes. ↗️ Inscription (12 euros/pers.) sur https://lnkd.in/eEBrXkyD L'apes CDC Habitat

In Montreuil, the historic “murs à pêches” (peach walls) are more than vestiges of agricultural ingenuity—they are a living laboratory where Paris’s environmental past and future intersect. 🍑🌱 Walking with Pascale Taillat through these remarkable spaces, we explored how layers of heritage and industrial legacy create both opportunity and challenge. Under the shade of century-old walls, citizens, scientists, and city officials confront one of the region’s most pressing questions: how can we restore and safely steward 30 hectares of land - where some are contaminated-, and how do we ensure the memory and expertise around these sites are preserved through generations of new users and projects? Open, ongoing dialogue has become essential for progress. Local associations like Fruits Défendus and Reste Ensemble are catalysts for this change—defending urban green spaces, negotiating the risks of soil contamination, and ensuring that local voices remain at the heart of decisions. _ 🤝 P.O.N.T. program is co-led and co-designed with aquí SCCL team 🇪🇺 This project is co-founded by the European Union as part of the Erasmus+ small scale partnership program _ #PONT #UrbanEcology #CitizenScience #CommunityClimateAction #ParisVisit #SoilRestoration

The tiny forest at Porte de Montreuil created by Boomforest is proof that urban restoration can start with "ordinary citizens" and a bold idea. 🌳 Inspired by the Miyawaki method, Boomforest transforms neglected city land into thriving tiny-forests by densely planting native tree species, creating resilient, self-sustaining ecosystems quickly and affordably. Young trees from local nurseries are planted close together on a "boosted soil", accelerating canopy growth, and protecting against heat, wind, and pests. After just three years of light care, these forests become autonomous—requiring no irrigation or ongoing maintenance, offering lasting benefits to both community and environment. 🌱 Thanks to the city’s participatory budget and strong volunteer support, Boomforest’s first Paris project covered 400m² with an investment focused mainly on fencing and soil preparation. Hundreds of locals participated in planting shifts, fostering ownership, social connection, and neighborhood pride. 🤝 Targeting degraded and “in-between” urban spaces, Boomforest avoids conflict with existing land uses, making the approach resource-efficient and replicable. Partnerships with scientists and municipalities are expanding its reach while preserving community values. Today, Boomforest stands as a scalable solution, inspiring urban resilience, biodiversity, and community engagement—proving that citizen-led efforts can transform even the smallest spaces into powerful agents of change. 💡🌍 _ 🤝 P.O.N.T. program is co-led and co-designed with aquí SCCL team 🇪🇺 This project is co-founded by the European Union as part of the Erasmus+ small scale partnership program _ #PONT #UrbanEcology #ClimateAction #CitizenScience #CommunityClimateAction #ParisVisit #NatureBasedSolutions

Can urban renewal truly center the voices and needs of those who already call a neighborhood home? 🌱👐 As part of our Erasmus+ P.O.N.T. program, we joined the collective "4 Chemins de la Terre" for a tour through Pantin’s future eco-neighborhood "Grand Quatre Chemins", a vibrant district where local organisations and residents are shaping a new urban future together. 4 Chemins de la Terre exemplifies what can happen when ecology and social inclusion are rooted in everyday life. Founded with the aim of making sustainable food and green practices accessible to all, the collective transforms vacant lots and underutilized spaces into hubs for ecological education, art, and solidarity. Cité Diderot’s greenhouse gardens and the evolving La Friche 67 are just two examples of how local action can refresh both the urban landscape and community spirit, while close partnerships with groups like landscape designers and ASSOCIATION PAS SI LOIN have made these projects possible. With founding partner of 4 chemins de la terre, PAM ( Pantin Activités et Métiers), we learned how employment can be reimagined to better serve the neighborhood’s realities. Through national experimentation, the compagny PAM! adapts jobs to each individual’s situation, supporting women, migrants, people with disabilities, and those long excluded from the job market. Work here is stable, meaningful, and varied: from urban agriculture to textile recycling, catering, and solidarity initiatives, PAM! provides pathways that respect both people's needs and their potential. This leads to greater mutual aid, improved living conditions, and even access to secure long-term housing—transforming not only work but lives. Thank you Kim Porta, Alice Oliot, Isabella, Titouan Lampe, Emma Morillon and PAM's team for the visit! _ 🤝 P.O.N.T. program is co-led and co-designed with aquí SCCL team 🇪🇺 This project is co-founded by the European Union as part of the Erasmus+ small scale partnership program _ #PONT #UrbanEcology #CommunityClimateAction #SocialInclusion #CitizenEngagement #ParisVisit

🍲 Rethinking Food and Belonging with Joanna Wong Our journey continued with artist Joanna Wong. She transforms the everyday act of eating into an exploration of migration, ecology, and cultural power. Inviting us to taste seaspaghetti, spirulina, and tamarind, Joanna urged participants to see urban food sources not as novelties, but as bridges between memory, resilience, and rootedness. Joanna’s activism, fueled by personal experience as an Hong-Kongese migrant, challenges the assumption that marginalized communities need to be simply “taught” about healthy eating. Her perspective: - Local Knowledge as Wealth: Culinary knowledge already flourishes in every community. Instead of top-down education, cities should recognize and amplify these resources, mapping food deserts and oases as urban design issues, not cultural deficits. - Food Justice & Agency: So-called “bad food habits” reflect conditions of exclusion and disorientation, not ignorance. Food policy must address structural barriers, not blame communities. - Convivial Resistance: Through collective meals, playful board games, and zero-recording discussions, Joanna and her collective Enoki open space for real dialogue—where food is medicine, performance, and protest. Topics range from fermentation and food sovereignty to the politics of protest food. As Joanna put it, “Food is memory, resistance, and a way to reclaim space.” 🍃🍲 _ 🤝 P.O.N.T. program is co-led and co-designed with aquí SCCL team 🇪🇺 This project is co-founded by the European Union as part of the Erasmus+ small scale partnership program _ #PONT #UrbanEcology #ClimateAction #CitizenScience #FoodJustice

🌍 How do you measure — and activate — the climate transformation of a neighborhood? As part of the Erasmus+ project P.O.N.T., our meeting with Lola Gouiffes (Ville de Paris) placed the spotlight on hyper-local climate action through the EU project NEAR, a Parisian pilot within the Net Zero Cities program. This two-year collaboration brings together municipal, academic, and grassroots partners—including Conseil départemental de la Seine-Saint-Denis, Réseau des Quartiers en Transitions, the Association pour la transition Bas Carbone (ABC), and the Coopérative Carbone Paris & Métropole du Grand Paris—to build actionable methodologies and digital tools for greener, fairer cities. #NEAR begins with a critical diagnosis: mapping residents’ habits (mobility, food, consumption) and the quality of their neighborhoods and green spaces. Residents directly vote on their highest-priority climate issues using open-source platforms. The methodology undergoes continuous peer review by volunteers and citizens, ensuring co-creation remains central, even as reaching ambitious EU targets remains complex. Next steps involve a transparent feedback loop: sharing diagnostic results with residents and officials, financing citizen-led projects, and supporting projects beyond their inception. As participatory environmental initiatives multiply, Paris continues to explore how best to empower grassroots leadership and experimentation at scale. _ 🤝 P.O.N.T. program is co-led and co-designed with aquí SCCL team 🇪🇺 This project is co-founded by the European Union as part of the Erasmus+ small scale partnership program _ #PONT #CitizenScience #UrbanEcology #ParisVisit #CommunityClimateAction #NetZeroCitiesProgram

🌾 How can cities weave together affordable housing, local food production, and social support, all within a single urban space? As part of our P.O.N.T. journey, we explored these questions at La Ferme du Rail, guided by architect Marine Kerboua of Grand Huit Architecture. Located on former railway land, La Ferme du Rail is a pioneering experiment where architectural innovation meets social inclusion and urban ecology. This unique project combines housing for both homeless individuals and social students—mainly from landscaping backgrounds—each of whom contributes to a vibrant community garden as part of their residency. Residents benefit from private rooms, bathrooms, and communal kitchens on each floor, with stays typically lasting two to three years, providing a supportive structure for those transitioning to stable living. La Ferme du Rail goes beyond housing by intertwining economic and environmental circles: the on-site restaurant sources its ingredients from the garden, returns its organic waste for composting, and closes the loop by using the resulting compost to grow more food. This model not only produces healthy, local food but also demonstrates a real-world urban circular economy. The project also stands out for its experimental use of bio-sourced materials, featuring thick straw insulation and wood pellet heating—testing new, more sustainable ways to build in cities. By working with regulatory agencies, the team aims to make such ecological construction more accessible for future projects. Rooted on city-owned land with a long-term lease, La Ferme du Rail blends social inclusion, green architecture, and circular resource management—offering a tangible answer to how cities can cultivate resilience, empowerment, and community, all at once. _ 🤝 P.O.N.T. program is co-led and co-designed with aquí SCCL team 🇪🇺 This project is co-founded by the European Union as part of the Erasmus+ small scale partnership program _ #PONT #UrbanEcology #CircularEconomy #SocialInnovation #AffordableHousing #ErasmusPlus 🌱

🌊 How can citizens shape the future of a city’s rivers —and what can this mean for urban governance? During the visit to Paris as part of Erasmus+ program P.O.N.T., we explored this question with Céline Marty of the Académie du Climat, an organization at the heart of ecological transition in Paris. The Académie opens its doors to both youth and adults, serving as a vibrant space for learning, experimentation, and collaborative climate action. Its mission is twofold: fostering climate education through innovative programming, and serving as a living lab where new ideas and practices can be demonstrated, shared, and scaled citywide. A recent milestone is the Citizens’ Convention for the Seine. In a city increasingly reclaiming its river through pedestrian zones, cleanup efforts, and even urban swimming, this convention asked: Should the Seine be recognized as a legal entity to ensure its long-term protection? For several weeks, a diverse group of citizens selected by lottery engaged in mapping their perceptions of the river, exploring its biodiversity, and debating the possibility of granting the Seine new legal rights—such as the right to flow freely, remain unpolluted, and regenerate. The process concluded with a public presentation at city council, resulting in recommendations that advocate recognition of the Seine’s legal personhood and the establishment of fundamental rights for the river. While such conventions are advisory and cannot directly enforce policy, they play a vital role in broadening public understanding, creating new spaces for dialogue, and inspiring policy innovation. Participants gain new insights into ecological challenges, and their proposals feed into broader conversations at both local and national levels. Even as decision-making authority ultimately rests with elected officials, these participatory experiences help depolarize debate, raise civic literacy, and support Paris’s ambition to remain an inclusive, climate-resilient city for all. Through its work, the Académie du Climat demonstrates the transformative potential of education and citizen engagement in meeting urban climate challenges. _ 🤝 P.O.N.T. program is co-led and co-designed with aquí SCCL team 🇪🇺 This project is co-founded by the European Union as part of the Erasmus+ small scale partnership program _ #ErasmusPlus #PONT #CitizenEngagement #UrbanEcology #ClimateEducation #ParisTransition 🚲🌳

🔍 What if cities stopped seeing land as flat, buildable surface — and began recognizing soil as a living system essential to our future? On our first day of visits in Paris with the Erasmus+ P.O.N.T. program, we met with Margot Holvoet, Director of the Institut de la Transition Foncière, an organisation working at the intersection of climate policy, land governance, and ecological restoration. Their message is clear: soil is far more than a surface for construction—it is the planet’s second-largest reservoir of biodiversity after the oceans, a crucial carbon sink, and the source of 95% of our food. Yet, over 60% of Europe’s soils are now degraded, driven largely by urban expansion—strikingly, 89% of land artificialisation occurs on fertile agricultural ground. Rather than treating land as a commodity, the Institute promotes a 3 dimentional approach to land: one that considers the underground ecosystem, the actors who shape it, and the barriers to regenerating it. Through a unique model combining research, policy advocacy, and operational tools, they support multi-actor governance, pilot projects, and strategies to make soil restoration more accessible — economically, legally, and socially. _ 🤝 P.O.N.T. program is co-led and co-designed with aquí SCCL team 🇪🇺 This project is co-founded by the European Union as part of the Erasmus+ small scale partnership program _ #PONT #UrbanEcology #LandJustice #ClimateAdaptation #SoilIsLife #CitizenEngagement #ErasmusPlus

How can shared spaces foster urban resilience, community identity, and sustainable practices in rapidly changing cities? 🌱 As the first stop on our Paris journey with the Erasmus+ program "P.O.N.T.", Les Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers’ La Semeuse garden offered both a practical and symbolic answer. What was once a parking lot now serves as a diverse community hub—where local residents, artists, and newcomers exchange agricultural knowledge, host participatory events, and experiment with new forms of collective care. Faced with urban pressures and evolving political landscapes, La Semeuse stands out for its capacity to adapt: annual journals, evolving thematic formats, and open invitations to the neighborhood ensure the space remains accessible and relevant. The visit also included a workshop lunch designed by artist Joanna Wong, where food and ecology merged in a hands-on demonstration exploring the migration of ingredients and the search for cultural belonging in new environments. Through activities like these, La Semeuse cultivates inclusion and agency, echoing the goals of P.O.N.T.: fostering adult learning, intergenerational skills, and resilient participation. Thank you Alix Gigot, Carlos, Les Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers' team and Joanna Wong for hosting us! _ 🤝 P.O.N.T. program is co-led and co-designed with aquí SCCL team 🇪🇺 This project is co-founded by the European Union as part of the Erasmus+ small scale partnership program _ #UrbanEcology #ErasmusPlus #CommunityClimateAction #PONT