About us

The TERRESTRIAL CITIES course was designed (between 2020 and 2023) by people from the worlds of activism and public institutions who are working on the ecological future of cities: the Metropolitan Trails Agency, the Cité de l’Agriculture, UrbAgora Asbl, Il Mercato Ritrovato, and Barcelona (AMB Metròpolis Barcelona).

Metropolitan Trails Agency

Marseille, France

Founded in 2014, the Metropolitan Trails Agency is based in Angoulême, Marseille, and Paris. Metropolitan trails are a new kind of public space, designed to reconnect us to our living territories and invent the cities of the post-oil era.

La Cité de l’Agriculture

Marseille, France

The Cité de l’agriculture is an association based in Marseille. In response to the need for deep ecological and societal change, it acts as a tool for research, action, and intervention. It places access to sustainable food and urban agriculture at the heart of the ecological transition of cities.

urbAgora asbl

Liège, Belgium

The non-profit organization urbAgora, founded in 2008 and based in Liège, aims to document and nourish urban debate. It is particularly interested in mobility, urban planning, architecture, housing, landscape, and land use.

Il Mercato Ritrovato

Bologne, Italy

The Mercato Ritrovato is a farmers’ market that has been held at the Cineteca di Bologna since 2008, run by an association of producers with shared values and rules set out in a set of specifications. Only local and seasonal products, presented only by those who produce them, for a zero km shopping experience and street food.

Area Metropolitana de Barcelona

Catalonia, Spain

The Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona is a public body operating under the metropolitan authority. It is made up of representatives from Barcelona and 36 neighboring municipalities, representing a population of 3,239,337 inhabitants in an area of 636 square kilometers.

Crédits

The content in the TERRESTRIAL CITIES project (produced between 2021 and 2023) is the result of the collective work of people from the five abovementioned organizations: Marion Schnorf, urban planner - Gil Lenders, educator - Diana Calderan, farmer - Francois Schreuer, urban planner and elected official - Raimon Roda, agronomist - Louis Roland, urban planner - Lolita Augay, political scientist - Adèle Dauxais, urban planner - Baptiste Lanaspeze, publisher - Paul-Hervé Lavessière, urban planner - Giorgio Pirazzoli, political scientist - Lucia Biscarini, translator - Clémence Raffard, political scientist

The game design was coordinated by Paul-Hervé Lavessière (Metropolitan Trails).

Production of the handbook was coordinated by Baptiste Lanaspeze (Metropolitan Trails).

The illustrations and graphic design are the work of Gabrielle Rayé. The typeface is Sono, designed by Ty Finck.

The website was designed and developed by Julien Bidoret with Kirby. It is hosted in France on the servers of Alwaysdata, a hosting company committed to sustainable IT.

Editorial Committee

At various stages, the content of this project has benefited from the review, ideas, and support of:

Sébastien Marot, philosopher

– the maestro who tuned us into new horizons

Flaminia Paddeu, geographer

– for inspiring discussions

Jean-Noël Consalès, geographer

– who has been talking about urban farming since 2000

Mathias Rollot, philosopher and architect

– for introducing us to bioregionalism

Marin Schaffner, author and editor

– for contributing to the design of the project

Yann Fradin, social entrepreneur

– for his contribution to the architecture of the project

Philippe Simay, philosopher

– for his likeminded vision and companionship

Myriam Bahaffou, philosopher and activist

– for her fruitful conversations with Marion

(to be continued …)

Thank you!

A series of test sessions were carried out during the design of the course. Participants included:

  • students of Audrey Le Hénaff and Laurent Hodebert at the school of architecture of Luminy (Ensa-m)
  • public employees in the “Nature in the City” department at the city of Marseille
  • various professionals participating in the “Mediterranean Urban Agriculture Days” (2021)
  • participants of the Rencontres de Lure
  • learners on the Platform (Marseille) with Sylvia Andriantsimahavandy
  • associations of the Académie du Climat (Paris)

We would like to thank them for agreeing to be guinea pigs and for sharing in the course content as it was being designed.