To celebrate 20 years of Traits urbains and 25 years of the Forum des Projets Urbains, the magazine has invited twenty leading figures to shed light on two decades of profound change: new scales of action, the climate emergency, growing resource scarcity, evolving planning and delivery models, and the integration of more sensitive, human-centred approaches to projects.

In this special issue, Bernard Reichen looks back at the need for a major cultural shift if we are to build the city of tomorrow. In his view, “it is no longer enough to rebuild the city on the city: we must first learn how to rebuild nature in the city”.

He argues for an urbanism rooted in care and maintenance, restraint and the valorisation of what already exists—one that can turn industrial, landscape and social legacies into resources for imagining new urban narratives. Drawing on experience in France and internationally, he underlines the importance of long timeframes and of assembling heritage, uses and ecological transition into a coherent whole.

Imagining cities that are more frugal, more attentive to the living world, and more firmly grounded in their territories.

Traits Urbains