The 20th
anniversary
edition
March 14 & 15, 2025
at UNESCO • Paris

Christine Leconte, you are the President of the National Council of the French Order of Architects. Do you believe that the Order fully integrates ecological and climate regeneration within its operations ?

Christine LECONTE - Architecture must be viewed as a solution to the current crises. These crises, particularly climate change, are revolutionizing our practices and how we think about our profession. We need to drastically reduce our carbon footprint while also adapting our cities to the ongoing climate changes. This issue is central to our work. The advocacy we have drafted helps fulfill our duty to advise public authorities by alerting them to the impacts of uncontrolled urbanization on the quality of life of our citizens. We propose 16 measures to address current challenges. The Yellow Vest movement and the lockdown have highlighted the intrinsic links between architecture and living conditions; we can no longer ignore the impact of building our cities today. To address the question of how humans can live in urban spaces in the 21st century, we argue that we need to learn to "care for" the territory.

What kind of training do young architects receive on this topic? What does the National Council of the Order recommend?

In France, all the National Schools of Architecture have taken up the issue of ecological training. More and more project workshops integrate, from the first year, the issues of recycling existing structures and heritage. Educators are also developing the "design-build" approach to ground students’ learning in spatial and constructive questions. Moreover, for several years, an inter-school network called ENSAECO has facilitated the sharing of experiences among teacher-researchers to ensure that our future architects receive the best possible training, including designing through rehabilitation. New post-graduate programs also allow for further skill acquisition after graduation. For example, the DPEA at ENSA Versailles, "Ecological Transformation of 20th Century Buildings," is a post-master’s university program focused on the rehabilitation of 20th-century buildings in light of the current energy and environmental crises.

When large architectural projects are commissioned by public or private decision-makers, do they spontaneously and sufficiently include environmental preservation (in addition to legal requirements)?

It’s not always that straightforward. In construction, we still tend to "demolish" before "building." We need to focus on rehabilitation. Every building is a resource. We know today that demolition consumes, on average, 5 times more greenhouse gases and 70 times more raw materials. Nevertheless, we strive to support public actors in this direction because we need to change our construction approach. We show that it is possible. The same applies to planning. We must adapt to new conditions: climate hazards, sea-level rise... major risk architecture has become a key area of work that we try to share widely.

For several years, you have advocated for a planning approach based on the "repair of the city." What does this approach actually involve?

We now need to design a city that addresses three crises: the depletion of planetary resources, adaptation to climate change, and biodiversity loss. One of the challenges is to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our cities. However, 80% of the city that will exist in 2050 is already built: part of our energy consumption comes from this existing stock. In reality, the city of the future is the city of today, as the urban fabric renews only 1% per year. By 2050, 20% will need to be constructed, and 80% of the cities will need to be reworked, particularly to adapt to the challenges ahead. We need to start from the existing city and see how to improve and better manage it: learning to consider and repair what exists. We can no longer think of the city as we have in the past. It’s the end of the easy city—one that sprawls, demolishes, and rebuilds without considering what’s already there. The individualized, zoned city. We can see that today’s city no longer always matches our uses. For the 20% to be built, we need a city that protects both the planet and its inhabitants, taking into account their aspirations. This is the typical hybrid reflection of the architect. It’s a cultural shock we are experiencing: how to adapt our lifestyles to avoid the crises? Repairing the city also means moving from an individualized city to a shared city. As we question how to achieve zero net land take, we must look at what we already have and think about how to work with it. Density is intimidating, but there are many urban and architectural typologies that are not used today. This represents a meticulous architectural creation process to provide the best for residents while tackling the challenges of the century! The goal is more proximity and less congestion. When we say "repair the city!" with an exclamation mark, it’s a form of positive thinking: from this, we can build remarkably.

You will be speaking on November 25 at UNESCO during the Earth University on the theme "Building Desirable and Livable Cities." Do you think the implementation of the “great sustainable city” is realistically possible? If so, how?

I’m not sure what exactly "great sustainable city" means. We should be cautious of the buzzwords we use. I would rather talk about ecosystems, bioregions. If we lose touch with the territory, the challenge is lost. Climate, materials, the history of the place, water: the challenge of our century is to reconnect with our surroundings to live better with them. We should not ask more from the environment than it can give us. It’s not about "preserving nature" as sometimes stated, but remembering that it is nature that, in the end, will preserve us! Fighting against it does not work; we have done enough of that in the 20th century. We need to move in its direction because we are part of a whole. If we continue as we are, we are heading for disaster: we anticipate 4 times more air conditioning in 2050, which will further warm the planet, and emissions from concrete will double in 10 years... Without this awareness, we might not meet our greatest challenge: providing living spaces for everyone. It is a question of humanity; it is the question of architecture today.