'LIVING CITY' SEMINAR

The event will be followed by drinks.
To attend, please register here.

With authors Jérôme Denis (Mines Paris-PSL) and David Pontille (CNRS/Mines Paris-PSL)
Convened by Perig Pitrou (MFO)

What do a boiler, a car, a signpost, a smartphone, a cathedral, a work of art, a satellite, a washing machine, a bridge, a clock, a computer server, the body of an illustrious statesman, and a tractor have in common? Almost nothing, except that none of these things, big or small, precious or banal, lasts without some maintenance. Every object wears out, deteriorates, eventually breaks down or even disappears. But do we really understand the importance of maintenance? As a counterpoint to the contemporary obsession with innovation, and less spectacular than the singular act of repair, this delicate art of making things last is rarely brought to our attention.
This book is an invitation to decentralise our gaze by putting maintenance and those who carry it out in the foreground. By following the thread of different stories, its authors describe the subtleties of "the care of things" to highlight the ethical stakes and the political significance.

About the Living City' Seminar:

Considering the ecological challenges of urban planning projects, contemporary societies must invent new ways of coexisting with non-human life forms and improving the living conditions of humans, while integrating them more harmoniously into natural environments. While establishing a dialogue with the medical sciences, natural sciences and engineering sciences, the humanities and social sciences provide fundamental insights into the technical and social dynamics at work in the way cities are built and inhabited.

By inviting researchers engaged in a reflection on the multiple scales of relations between Life and Cities, the "Living City" seminar aims to identify the main problems which need to be solved to learn how to better inhabit our planet.