res urbanae

The RES URBANAE project is part of the urban current events of two cities with crossed destinies: Brest and Dresden. The study of these two cities, which have been rebuilt in radically different ways in different time frames, opens up a field of possibilities that we want to examine in the light of a world in transition. A world that needs to reinvent itself by taking into account the question of environmental urgency with the outline of possible pandemics, but without obscuring the importance of cultural heritage in its diversity. The project is led by four partners who have signed a framework agreement: Maison de l'Allemagne de Brest, UBO Brest, TU (Technical University) of Dresden and VUT (University of Technologies) of Brno.

The aim is to examine the relationship between our cities and the changing world, which calls for the invention of new urban living patterns for the future. Resilience is a key notion of the project. RES URBANAE wants to observe the way in which the destruction that has affected the territories has been able to stimulate creative approaches, whether they be architectural, urban or artistic. Reconstruction is approached in an original way: in a broad, historical and symbolic sense. It is not limited to a completed urban operation of the post-war period (the case of Dresden, where reconstruction went through several phases, shows its long temporality), but as a dynamic process, always in progress, which articulates the different times of history. An important place in this process is given to taking into account the old or recent architectural heritage, linked to the historical profile of the city (the case of Brest, which is currently reinvesting the areas ceded to the municipality by the Navy, is emblematic in this sense). The reappropriation of places abandoned by history is not unique to cities destroyed by war (the progressive dilapidation of Brno's industrial heritage calls for an intelligent and sensitive reconstruction so as not to erase part of the city's identity). Beyond the projects that have been completed, RES URBANAE is also interested in those that have remained in the register of utopia and urban imagination, which takes various forms (literary, artistic, etc.) and the place of the latter in the construction of the identity of cities. Brest and Dresden offer a rich comparative potential and the resources to study it thanks to the presence of two universities hosting research and teaching centers related to urban creation: the UBO with its Geoarchitecture department, the TU with its Faculty of Architecture. The Czech partner (VUT Brno with its Faculty of Architecture), by its external view, enriches our project in a relevant way.