Brain principles contribution to cities design. Spatial and temporal scales

Symposium organized by François Pitti, Director of Strategic Foresight, Bouygues Construction, Davide Ruzzon, architect, Tuned Lombardini22, Director of the Neuroscience and Architecture Program, University of Venice, and Alain Berthoz, Collège de France, as part of the Brain, Culture and Society Program of the Paris IAS.

Symposium in English. Free entrance upon compulsory registration. See forms at the bottom of the page.

Presentation

The design of new cities and the management of old cities face complexities that require a renewal of all existing models and methodologies that fragment approaches into multiple actors that are difficult to coordinate. The major upheavals not only in climate and energy but also, for example, in lifestyles and issues of health, education, violence and security, etc., require new ideas and practices. A project to reflect on this subject has been launched since 2021 by the "Brain, Culture, and Society" Program of the Paris Institute for Advanced Study. It was conceived by an industrialist, François Pitti, an architect and teacher, Davide Ruzzon, and a neuroscientist, Alain Berthoz.
The central idea of the project is to investigate whether the principles of functioning of the brain and more generally of biological organisms, which have to deal with such complexities, can be useful to inspire a renewal of modern approaches and methods of the city. To focus the reflection on this vast question, a multidisciplinary group of experts has chosen first, the theme of "temporal and spatial scales". A second symposium entitled "Emotion and Memory" organized by the Neuroscience and Architecture program of the University of Venice will take place in 2023 in cooperation with the Paris IAS.

In keeping with the tradition of the Paris Institute for Advanced Study, each speaker is encouraged not to simply present his or her work but to propose new avenues at the boundaries of the disciplines. Discussions will also involve the public.

Program (subject to modification)

December 1, 2022

09.00
Welcome
Saadi Lahlou (Director of the Paris Institute for Advanced Study, Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science)
Simon Luck (Scientific Director of the Paris Institute for Advanced Study)
Gretty Mirdal (Director of the "Brain Culture and Society" Program of the Paris IAS, Member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, Emeritus Professor at the University of Copenhagen)

Introduction
Alain Berthoz (Collège de France, CIRB, Paris. Member of the French Academy of Sciences and Academy of Technologies)
François Pitti (Director Strategic Foresight, Bouygues Construction)
Davide Ruzzon (Architect, TUNED Lombardini22 Milan, Director of the Neuroscience and Architecture Program, University of Venice)

09.30 - 13.00
1st Session – Cities design: Stakes and Challenges

Chairlady: Gretty Mirdal

09.30 François Pitti (Bouygues Construction)
"Mutation of Urban dynamics, Space design challenges and Life Science inspiration"

10.10 Alan Penn (Architectura and Urban Computing, The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London)
"Being and space"

10.50 Yves Bamberger (Former Director EDF Research Center, Vice President Academy of Technologies)
"Some simple ideas on temporal and spatial scales in electric power systems"

Break

11.20 Denise Pumain (Urban Geographer, Université Paris 1, Institut universitaire de France)
"Scaling laws, scale dependency and time trajectories in systems of cities"

12.00 Davide Ruzzon (Architect, Tuned Lombardini22, Director of the Neuroscience and Architecture Program at the University of Venice)
"SMLXL From the belly of architecture to the public realm. Embodied simulation throughout the spatial scales: why its consistency could be so important?"

12.40  Lunch

14.30 - 18.30
2nd Session – Neurosciences and Life sciences: Principles

Chairmen: Davide Ruzzon and Antony Bechu

14.30 Shahar Arzy (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
"Processing of different spatial scales in the brain"

15.10 Alain Berthoz (Collège de France, CIRB)
"Simplexity, vicariousness and multiple scales for multiple action spaces in the brain"

15.50 Daniel Bennequin (Dept Mathematics, Université Paris Cité)
"Topos geometries for human movements, architecture and life"

Coffee Break

Chairlady: Sylvie Tordjman (Dir. Child Psychiatry Dept, Centre Hospitalier Guillaume Régnier, University of Rennes 1)

16.50 Tamar Flash (Weizman Institute, Israël)
"Spatial and temporal scaling in movement production and perception in the brain"

17.30 Pascale Piolino (Dept of Psychology, University Paris V, INSERM, St Anne Hospital)
"Brain principles for temporal scales in autobiographical memory and scales in spatial navigation"

18.10 - 19.30 Cocktail

Vendredi 2 décembre 2022

09.30- 16.30
3rd Session – Inspiration from Brain Principles for Cities Design

Chairmen: François Pitti and John Sutton (Macquarie University, Sydney, 2022-2023 Paris Institute for Advanced Study Research Fellow)

09.30 Jean-François Daures (Architect, Agence Archivision)
"The architecture hybridizing the elements of the plant kingdom is alive. It expresses itself both by evolving through time, and in all scales, from the microcosm to the macro-urban scale"

10.10 Clémence Béchu & Antony Béchu (Architects, Agence AAAB&Associés)
"Spatial and temporal sacles in biomimetic cities"

Coffee Break

11.10 Patrick Mauger (Architect, Agence Architecture Patrick Mauger, Member French Academy of Architecture)
"A simplified model of how the human brain is organized into three nested networks we use in architecture"

11.50 Serge Salat (Institute of Urban Morphologies and of complex systems, and Paris Special School of Architecture)
"Inspiration from simplexity with regards to scale laws in urban dimensions"

12.30 Lunch break

Chairmen: Alain Berthoz and Simon Luck

14.00 Laure Rondi-Reig (Institut de Biologie Paris/seine, CNRS, University Paris VI)
"Brain networks for navigation and behavioral adaptation"

14.40 Olivier Herbez (AHA Atelier Herbez Architectes)
"Scales in the Architectural Design Process"

15.30 Giovanni Vecchiato (PhD, Institute of Neuroscience, National Research Council, University of Parma, Italy)
"Investigating the interplay between spatial and social scales"

16.10 Fabien Leurent (Institut International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement), CIRED, Ecole des Ponts, Paris): Discussant

16.30 General Discussion and future meeting in Venice

17.00 End of meeting

Free entrance upon compulsory registration. See forms below.