Today we introduce you to Claire Cassanet, a young landscape engineer who just left the office after four months of internship. We worked and learned together, we cooked together, we enjoyed every day in her cheerful company. We already miss you, Claire! Read on as she describes her experience with us…

Claire!

Inhabitant of the world, professionally I’m a French landscape engineer and urban planner. I really enjoy watching the city and its complexity… I think it is like a living organism, it breathes, it moves, it perspires, it is dirty and so beautiful at the time! You can’t actually control it! I think the city of Madrid is a very good example for this. So I love all what includes the city and the practices inside it: urban climbing, urban dancing… I think we should all play with the city. Besides that, I still remain a landscaper so I am really in favour of nature in the city… If the city is a playground for Humans, and Humans come from wild Nature, then there should be a lot of nature inside the city, actually the city should try to insert itself softly in the nature.

Claire, living the city :)

While I was at Ecosistema Urbano, besides other works I wrote a series of posts—coming out soon!—for the blog about citizen participation, a very trendy subject nowadays…  But at EU, I felt a different approach of the projects: at the time futurist and playful, and also linked to Nature and respecting places’ souls. I didn’t use to be very into new technologies but this time spent at EU was the moment to get into it, and finally it is quite interesting to include them and use them in projects!

Also, besides the fact that Ecosistema Urbano’s office seems to be a place out of normal time and space because of his localisation “underground”, I loved the fact that it is, at least at the moment, such an international office. Especially at lunch time, when the question “what do you want to eat today?” is answered at the same time by a “pasta al oglio!”, “du fromage!” and “verduras, que hay que comer sano”!

Occupation: landscape engineer and urban planning student
Interests: climbing, dancing salsa and walking in the nature with some lovely music or in silence, people and their diversity.
City/country: France (Bourges, Angers, Bordeaux…)
Related posts: a great series on participation, coming soon!