MAS.968, 4.184, 11.947
Design Workshop: Cannes Reloaded

William J. Mitchell, Carlo Ratti, Dennis Frenchman, Guy Perry

 

CANNES today functions mostly as a tourist, festival, and retirement destination. But it has the potential to play a new, far more dynamic role. Its climate and lifestyle attractions, its connections to the film and media world, and its proximity to the Sophia Antipolis technopole, position it to become a leading center of the creative industries. The focus of this workshop is on innovative development, urban design, and technological infrastructure strategies to achieve that goal. The recent Nation Academies report "Beyond Productivity" will provide a starting point.

Cannes has partnered with MIT to develop an approach for a new high-technology neighborhood on one of the last available waterfront sites (more than 30 ha) near the downtown.  The workshop will challenge students to develop specific architectural, urban, and technological interventions that will initiate beneficial urban change.  The course will focus on three themes:

- Planning sustainable large-scale urban transformation
- Understanding the repercussions of technology on the spatial configuration of our cities
- Working with emerging wireless technology to transform our cities


- Some preliminary data analysis of the city

- Concept ideas for the new design of Cannes

- Recordings of sounds on the site (6 min mp3 - 7Mb)