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L’inconvénient, c’est une très faible intensité urbaine, parce qu’avec des gens qui ne font que l’aller-retour entre domicile et travail pour venir au campus, il y a peu de commerces ou de services sur place, et des cheminements un peu perdus au milieu de la forêt où, le soir, il fait sombre avec des raccourcis boueux sous les bois.
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In all, Paris-Saclay encompasses 49 municipalities which are working on a single development-research-innovation-industry-education project. This means that the development projects focus on certain areas. The one chosen for Europan has received little attention so far. It is an existing and still functioning university site and also a listed natural site, protected for its landscape quality. There are buildings on it, but they are hidden. That was the first condition for the creation of the campus. However, the buildings are so well hidden that the campus is completely unfamiliar to the inhabitants of the adjacent communities. And the students, researchers and teachers, some 15,000 people at present, are also unfamiliar with the local town centres. The advantage is that it is a magnificent natural site, much appreciated by its users. The disadvantage is that there is very little urban intensity, because with people who only commute to and from the campus, there are few shops or services in place, and pathways somewhat lost in the middle of the forest where, in the evening, it is dark with muddy shortcuts under the trees. It is therefore a way of inhabiting nature that can sometimes be a little aggressive, where nature can be a little hostile. And the residents themselves are a little violent with this natural environment: they enjoy the view of the forest, but they only go there by car. The priority today in eco-usage. What can we do to make this site of benefit to the people who live there and not only to students and researchers? In particular by creating many more possible uses to encourage visitors. For this, we also need more sources of finance, because at present the university lacks the resources to maintain all these spaces. The other question is how to landscape them? There is woodland, areas that could be laid to lawn, the somewhat wild banks of a river that runs across the site: how can we encourage people to use these sites? Because leaving them whilst does not seem an appropriate solution. And from the point of view of innovation, the question is: how do we encourage uses that do not yet exist? This is the uncertainty about the future we were talking about. But if there is one group of people who have unusual and innovative practices, it is students. So how do we facilitate new cultural practices? Students are at an age that is supposed to be a time of discovery and intellectual exchange. So how do we promote unknown uses and, above all, how
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