WATER PARLIAMENTS

INFORMATION

Visible water – invisible water.  ‘From the Rhône glacier to the Mediterranean Sea from the metropolis’ (Visible water – invisible water)

Since September 2021, the École urbaine de Lyon has been running a research-creation studio dedicated to water and anthropocene urban worlds, with artists, researchers, post-doctoral fellows, doctoral students and students.

Today, in order to question the various initiatives around water issues, the EUL, strengthened by its ability to build bridges between disciplines and players, is going to initiate and support a collective approach to developing a Water Parliament.

We are talking about visible and invisible water, from the glacier to the sea, and in all its possible states. The most obvious waters, such as rivers, represent a major challenge, given their increasing deterioration. Cyclical waters. Water in its uses, its daily life… Water and its risks. The water that emerges from a glacier spring, the water that flows through ravines and valleys. The water that forms the catchment area, the water that connects our territory to urbanised environments…

• So here are the first collective questions we want to ask:
• To what extent does our urban nature contribute to the logic of run-off?
• Is the water cycle deeply integrated into the metropolis?
• How can we reduce the impact of cities on our waterways?
• Is water an inalienable common good?
• What are the links between upstream and downstream?
• What if the Rhône had a legal personality?
• What kind of water parliament would it be?
• Who represents nature?

Our aim is to question water and our relationship to it in all its ecosystems.

Our approach is in line with the Rhône appeal: ‘Safeguarding the earth’s habitability will come from a new legal framework. Recognition of the rights of nature enables rivers, mountains and glaciers to plead their case themselves through their representatives’.

We question the legal ambition, which is based mainly on the river, but also on who these representatives will be with the inhabitants: The Parliament of the Waters of the Rhône, from the glacier to the Mediterranean Sea from the Lyon metropolis.

The aim of the Water Parliament project is to set up a parliamentary group that is progressive, cross-disciplinary and open. The aim is to bring together all stakeholders.

On 26 January 2021, we will set up a first constituent session of the parliament to be defined together with: elected representatives, technicians, water managers, industrialists, independent professionals, researchers, doctoral students, students, artists, residents and representatives of civil associations. The aim is to lay the foundations for a ‘Water Parliament’ with the first people to take an interest in water issues, and to move towards participatory governance of this urban common good.

Objective: Talk / Participate / Parliament.

Programme for the first session :

• What do you think a water parliament is?
• Who represents the river, its uses, the catchment area, non-humans and water?
• How much time should be devoted to such an important issue?
• How can we co-construct the method and continue?

MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT AND LOCAL PLAYERS PRESENT

ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES:

• Nicolas Husson, Deputy Mayor of Lyon, CM Biodiversity – Nature in the City – Animal Protection Delegation
• Pierre Athanaze, Vice-President of the Metropole of Lyon. Environment, animal protection and risk prevention.

TECHNICIANS

• Olivier Pillonel, Head of the City and Rivers Department, Lyon Metropolitan Council, Urban Planning and Mobility Delegation, Department of Planning and Territorial Strategies, Urban Planning and Territories Department.
• Richard Trillat, head of studies and development at SYMALIM (Syndicat mixte pour l’aménagement et la gestion de l’île de Miribel Jonage), owner of the Grand Parc.
• Damien Dumollard, Director of Smiril (Mixed Syndicate of the Rhône of Islands and Lônes).
• Anne-Laure Garcin, responsible for citizen participation and public policy, head of the Lyon Metropolitan Area Development Council.
• Florian Borg: Metropole of Lyon. Landscape & Nature in the City Project Manager. Ecology Department – Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity & Landscape Unit. Environment, Ecology and Energy Department. Environmental and Energy Transition Delegation.

INDEPENDENT PROFESSIONALS

• Emmanuel Jalbert, landscape architect DPLG / urban planner OPQU, director of the In situ – Paysages et Urbanisme agency, Lyon, and author of the transformations of the left bank of the Rhône.
• Franck Huillard, Architect and urban planner, Director of the INTERLAND agency.
• Christian Piel, Urban planner and hydrologist, Director of the Urban Water Paris agency. Integration of the water cycle in the urban environment.

SENIOR RESEARCHERS

• Michel Lussault, geographer, professor at the University of Lyon, Environment, Cities, Societies (UMR 5600 CNRS/University of Lyon), Labex IMU, director EUL.
• Anne Honegger, director of research at the CNRS and member of the UMR EVS – ENS – Lyon.
• Jean-Philippe Pierron, professor of philosophy at Lyon III, director of the Medical Ethics and the Environment doctoral school, co-founder of the Valeur(s) du soi chair.
• Isabelle Michallet, Senior Lecturer in Public Law, Faculty of Law, Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University Environment, City, Society – CNRS – UMR 5600 (IDE) (Labex IMU).
• Hervé Piégay, CNRS research director at the ENS-EVS, in charge of the Observatoire Homme-Milieu de la Vallée du Rhône.
• Jean-Paul Bravard: Université Lumière Lyon 2 UL2 – Faculty of Geography, History, Art History and Tourism (GHHAT). State Doctorate, University Lyon 3.

JUNIOR RESEARCHERS

• Gaëtan Bailly, Doctor of Public Law, Post-doctoral researcher – Lecturer, Université Jean Moulin, Lyon 3, Institut de Droit de l’Environnement, CNRS, UMR 5600, EVS-IDE.

ARTISTS/CREATORS

• Mathieu Argaud, Production Manager, Illusion & Macadam cooperative, Bipolar, Code Source Project.
• Lalca Florent Otello Julie Bernard, research and creative laboratory on the city and living.

STUDENTS

• Cyrille Vallet, doctoral student at the Lyon Urban School, project manager – EGIS E.A.U.
• Clément Fagour, Mailys Genouel: Mailys Genouel: doctoral students at the École urbaine de Lyon.

STUDENTS FROM THE YOUTH FOR CLIMATE MOVEMENT

RESIDENT SOCIETY

• Caroline Dardanne, citiziens’ collective for the greening of old Lyon, Fabrique des transitions.
• Patrick Mathon, citiziens’ collective for the greening of old Lyon, Lyon City Trek
• Geneviève Brichet: Coordination des Forums Citoyens Lyon. Les Péniches De Lyon collective. MJC Monplaisir.

ASSOCIATIONS/COUNCIL

• Laëtitia Bacot, Head of the Water in the City Unit, Regional Coordinator, Executive Director of OTHU.
• Marie-Cécile Grisard, Initiatives pour l’avenir des Grands Fleuves.
• Valérie Marion, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regional Economic, Social and Environmental Council. Head of environment and energy transition studies – territorial equality and rurality – low-carbon energies.

WATER MANAGER

• Philippe Imbert, CSR Director – Veolia Eau du Grand Lyon, Volunteer President of Samu social – Alynéa.
• Karen Guemain, CNR, Concession Manager, Asset Management and Concession Division.

Coordinated by Adrian Torres-Astaburuaga