Mémoire de recherche

DSAA design d'espace

Comment ralentir en ville alors que la vitesse apparaît comme une évidence dans la vie citadine ? L’homme en ville est souvent emporté par les cadences collectives provoquant en lui une sensation d’accélération et de nervosité. Le temps qui semble s’accélérer résulte d’un changement de mode de vie lié aux progrès technologiques, des déplacements plus efficaces, des moyens de communication et de travail plus rentables. Mais à quoi bon accélérer si le temps gagné n’est pas au profit de la lenteur ? C’est pourquoi il est questionné l’opportunité d’un ralentissement pour le citadin en ville afin d’échapper à l’accélération quotidienne. La lenteur abordée est orientée sur le déplacement en ville et sa perception. Cette attitude corporelle, telle que la flânerie et la dérive urbaine, stimule par le mouvement du corps une nouvelle relation vis-à-vis du paysage urbain: la contemplation par la promenade. La lenteur en ville, par la marche, offre une perception opposée à celle aliénée par la vitesse des déplacements communs, le but étant de favoriser une meilleure cohabitation entre la cadence collective et individuelle du piéton, entre la vitesse et la lenteur.

Ralentir en ville

Une échappatoire à l'accélération quotidienne

English essay

DSAA Design d'espace

How runners perceive

the urban space

Is there a place for the runners in the urban area?

The place of runners in the city seems to be undecided. Indeed, the runner is not a pedestrian because he is faster than them and he is not a cyclist because he is not as fast as them. Where could we situate the runner in the city hierarchy ?
Running is one of the most popular free physical activities and it is used as a way to relax, to take the time to think and to escape from daily life.
As a space designer, I want to bring a solution to the place of running in cities which has become important today with the culture of social acceleration that alienates our individual rhythm and the perception of the city. Slowing down in the city enables to find a well-being and a better relationship to our environment thanks to one’s individual rhythm. The practice of running is one of those slow practices which ensure for city dwellers a break in their day. Actually, I have been practising running in the city for a few years and I find it a pleasure to observe the city and it gives me psychological and physical well-being.

Thanks to researches, readings, the French essay I wrote about “Slowing down in the city” and with my personal experience of running, I can say that is a form of slowing different from the walk but with some similar goals. In this essay, I will focus on the place of the rhythm of running in the urban space. The running culture has become anchored in certain daily practices of the city dwellers. But today it is the runner who adapts himself to the city, can the city include the runner as an urban practice ?
First of all, the essay will speak about the running culture in town, which growing up and then, how could urban space be adapted to runners because of its increase of attendance in town ?