09/07/2026
We are proud and happy to announce the 5th School PARIS TRANSFORMATIONS organized at Fondation-Helélnique - Cité internationale universitaire de Paris in collaboration with Ecole nationale supérieure d'architecture de Paris-Belleville, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne 1, Techninal University of Crete and Delft University of Technology - The Netherlands.
https://paristransformations.cargo.site/Upcoming-edition
Since 2022, the Fondation Hellénique has hosted the annual Paris Transformations Summer School, dedicated to exploring the profound transformations reshaping Paris and its metropolitan region. Each edition examines these changes through a specific lens—metropolitan restructuring, urban nature, fashion districts, or spaces of culture and entertainment—using the city as a laboratory for understanding broader urban dynamics.
This fifth edition turns to social housing, a subject that lies at the heart of contemporary debates on the future of European cities. Housing is far more than a technical or architectural issue: it reflects the social contract, the distribution of urban resources, and the capacity of cities to remain socially inclusive. In an era marked by the financialisation of real estate and the increasing commodification of housing, social housing constitutes one of the principal arenas where public policy confronts market-driven urban development. Examining social housing therefore means questioning who has the right to remain in the city, under what conditions, and through which forms of urban governance.
Paris offers a particularly revealing case. Constrained by high densities, limited land availability and exceptionally strong real-estate pressures, the city has developed innovative strategies for expanding its social housing stock, notably through the adaptive reuse of existing buildings—former barracks, hospitals, schools, office buildings and garages—as well as through mixed-use redevelopment projects. These transformations illustrate how changes in urban functions, mobility patterns and demographic structures can generate new opportunities for housing production while simultaneously redefining the city's built heritage.
Throughout the week, participants will engage with leading policymakers, housing agencies, architects and urban practitioners who are actively shaping these transformations. Through lectures, discussions and site visits, the Summer School will examine landmark projects and critically explore the tensions, innovations and political choices involved in producing affordable housing in one of Europe's most dynamic metropolitan contexts.