Lecture at the Université Catholique de Louvain
Professor Emmanuel Rey from the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST) was invited to speak at the European Postgraduate Course in Architecture and Sustainable Development organized by the Université Catholique de Louvain and the Ecole nationale supérieure d'architecture de Toulouse. His conference dealt more specifically with the strategies of urban wasteland regeneration.
The European Postgraduate Course in Architecture and Sustainable Development aims to provide participants with the necessary knowledge in programming, design and construction of buildings and public spaces in the perspective of sustainable development. Emphasis is put on the interaction between building and climate with the aim of optimizing energy and taking into account environmental criteria. The objective is on one hand to explore all the issues related to sustainability, and on the other hand to provide in-depth studies by a dual practice of design and research.
Prof. Emmanuel Rey was invited in that context to present the issues and the potentials of urban wasteland regeneration, on both theoretical and operational levels. Logistical changes experienced by most post-industrial European cities have in fact led to the emergence of a large number of disused areas, in total or partially, in the heart of cities and conurbations. In a sustainability perspective of the built environment, they represent priority and strategic sectors to contain urban sprawl and to create new neighborhoods simultaneously including multiple environmental, socio-cultural and economic dimensions.