Village en projet

What is a village today? How has this concept changed over time and under the influence of urbanisation? How can villages be revitalised to avoid abandonment or the process of touristification? How can the heritage identity of villages be preserved and restored, while at the same time adapting them to current climatic challenges and the demand for greater density?

The specific approach of architect and town planner Simon Teyssou, the research compiled in issue #117 of Oase magazine and the ten years' experience of the local action group 100 villages et 1 avenir will provide some answers.

Issue #117 of Oase, ‘Project Village’ (ed. Stefan Devoldere, Maarten Liefooghe and Sereh Mandias) contributes to the debate on village architecture and urbanism, examining them not as the antithesis of modernity, but as its complex product. Eight essays analyse the images, inventories, idealisations and transformations of villages in the changing political and social contexts of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Does the village still function in a meaningful way as a model at a time of increasing urbanisation?

Simon Teyssou, an architect and urban planner, is director of the École nationale supérieure d'architecture in Clermont-Ferrand and winner of the Grand Prix de l'Urbanisme in France in 2023, whom the jury identified as ‘the leader of a new generation of designers [who] propose another way forward for modernity’. He chose to set up his studio, l'Atelier du Rouget, in the heart of rural France, to facilitate effective relations between the various players, make use of local resources and gain a good understanding of the existing situation. In short, Teyssou's incremental approach is designed to repair the rural environment.

100 villages et 1 avenir is a local action group based in Ostbelgien and funded by the LEADER programme (Liaison Entre Action de Développement de l'Economie Rurale). The aim of this programme of Community initiatives for rural development is to encourage and help rural players to think about the potential of their area in the longer term. It encourages the implementation of original integrated sustainable development strategies aimed at experimenting with new forms of development.

The first part of the evening will be devoted to the film Vers une nouvelle ruralité ?, directed by Camille Van Durme commissioned the ICA, which explores the rural areas of Wallonia. This road movie reports on the walks organised by the ICA during the summer of 2024 and heralds the autumn meetings. The videographer observes the way in which these areas are viewed, listens to the issues at stake and transmits the visions developed by Belgian architects, town planners and landscape architects who are accompanying the transition to a new rurality.

Moderated by : Audrey Contesse (Institut Culturel d’Architecture Wallonie-Bruxelles)

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