Plateau Urbain is a temporary and transitional urban planning cooperative that offers affordable workspaces in lively and creative locations in the Île-de-France region and several other cities (Lyon, Bordeaux, Marseille). It also provides consulting and forecasting services throughout France.
Simon Laisney, then a real estate analyst, was struck by the colossal amount of empty office space in the Paris region, noting up to 3.5 million square meters of unused space, equivalent to 30 Montparnasse towers.
He brought together urban planning and real estate professionals, who now form the College of Experts, and with whom he created the Plateau Urbain association in 2013. Their ambition: to build bridges between the world of real estate and that of artists, associations, and innovators.
The first project, the Boutique des Frissons, heralded a series of new initiatives, including Les Grands Voisins in 2015, the first large-scale temporary occupation carried out in partnership with Aurore and Yes We Camp in a disused hospital in the capital.
Plateau Urbain is recognized in the Young Urban Planners Awards and is launching its call for applications platform. The transition to a cooperative society of collective interest (SCIC) LLC in 2017 marks a major turning point, conducive to the diversification of professions. The transition to SCIC was driven by a desire to democratize governance and adhere to cooperative principles.
National expansion began in 2018 with locations in Lyon, Marseille, and Bordeaux. Each project is unique, shaped by the community of occupants. In 2021, the Commune Mesure tool was launched: it analyzes the impact of temporary occupations and transitional urban planning on the city and its stakeholders.
The year 2022 marks the opening of cooperative membership to occupants, thanks to the company's evolution into a SCIC SA (cooperative society of industrial and cooperative interest), as well as the completion of a significant fundraising campaign aimed at increasing its financial capacity at the time of the opening of large-scale third places such as Césure (conversion of a university campus in Paris) and Les Arches Citoyennes (former headquarters of the APHP).
As for 2023, it will be marked by celebrations of 10 years of existence, where creativity and commitment are reshaping the contours of a more united, inclusive, and collaborative urbanity.
The Plateau Urbain cooperative has a three-tier governance structure:
The supervisory board is the cooperative's supervisory body. It is composed of 12 members, elected by the general assembly and drawn from different categories of members: occupants, experts, employees, partners, and financial supporters.
The Executive Board is the cooperative's governing body. It is responsible for implementing the decisions of the General Assembly and the recommendations of the Supervisory Board. The Executive Board is composed of three members: Simon Laisney, Élise Weiler, and Mathias Rouet.
There are currently five categories of membership, which come together at General Meetings.
EMPLOYEES
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EXPERTS
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PARTNERS
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FINANCIAL SUPPORT
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OCCUPANTS
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Plateau Urbain now has nearly 100 employees who work every day to make the city more accessible and welcoming. They are divided into five departments with varied and complementary missions: research, development, technical, operations, communications, and support.
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Having a studio here has allowed me to work somewhere other than at home. Working in a mixed environment has been very beneficial for me. It was a conscious choice on my part; I was really interested in the project as a whole. The studio is open to the public here, and it’s very rare for me to be here alone.
Marie Fourcade
Artisan embroiderer based in Cinq Toits
In the interests of transparency, we publish as many documents as possible online to help you understand the cooperative and share knowledge about new ways of designing power lines: activity reports, surveys, explanatory brochures, press releases, etc. Feel free to browse or download them!
