Mexico meets Paris’ urban and social innovation actors

Linked with a friendship pact since 1999, the cities of Paris and Mexico launched, in 2016, a new cooperation programme for urban innovation, with financial support from the Franco-Mexican fund for decentralised cooperation.
Supporting both creative, inclusive and open cities, Paris and Mexico decided to jointly reflect on the evolution of lifestyles in terms of mobility and public spaces, and to share best practices to strengthen the dialogue with their citizens.
From the 21st to the 25th of November, Paris welcomed a delegation from the city of Mexico and from the Laboratorio para la Ciudad de Mexico (labCDMX) that participated in exchanges and workshops. The activities were led by the Paris’ departments and community actors, whose commitment and expertise continue to position Paris at the forefront of urban and civic innovation.
The Mexican team met the association “Faites”, that was commissioned within the project “Réinventons nos places” (“let’s reinvente our public squares”), and visited the “Forme Publique”, a Biennial exhibition on the creation of urban furniture, located at la Défense.
Exchanges on urban experiments and on temporary occupancies continued with the Paris&Co Urban Lab and the involvement in the meet-up on temporary urbanism, organised at the Pavillon de l’Arsenal. Visiting “Les Grands Voisins”, and especially the future eco-district St-Vincent-de-Paul, illustrated the creation of an inspiring social and urban laboratory. The director of labCDMX, Gabriella Gomez-Mont, also spoke about Civic Tech at the Cities for Life Global Summit.
During the workshops, issues around the elaboration and implementation of participative budget received considerable interest from all participants.
Exchanges will continue in 2017 in Mexico, with Mexico City’s departments hosting a delegation of experts coming from Paris.