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Charlotte Malterre-Barthes: "Should we stop building?

Physical location
Amphi 302 - ENSAPLV, 144 avenue de Flandre, 75019 Paris

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STUDENT INITIATIVE

This event is part of a cycle organized by the student association La Vill’Verte, which questions the economic and political system of speculative architectural production. It will culminate in an exhibition entitled “Déconstruire la Démolition” in the second quarter of 2026.

After the coronavirus pandemic completely disrupted “the economic system that until now we were told was impossible to slow down or redirect” (as Bruno Latour wrote in March 2020), Charlotte Malterre-Barthes launched an initiative she called Un moratoire sur les nouvelles constructions (translated from the English A moratorium on new construction).

This reflection on the transformation of the speculative production system at the root of so much social and environmental damage was the subject of an eponymous book published by Sternberg Presse in February 2025:
” Suspending new construction, even temporarily, opens the way to radical thinking about alternatives to the current model of spatial production and its dubious growth imperative. […] Halfway between a thought experiment and a call to action, Un moratoire sur les nouvelles constructions is an act of faith to envisage a less extractive future, built from what we have: don’t demolish, don’t build new, build less, build with what exists, live with it differently and take care of it. ”

Biographical details
Charlotte Malterre-Barthes is an architect, urban planner, researcher, teacher and ambassador for the European citizens’ initiative HouseEurope! proposing a law promoting renovation. She is committed to a non-extractivist future in search of social and climate justice, notably through the RIOT! research laboratory she runs at EPFL.

Registration required for external audiencesFind out more about the HouseEurope campaign!

Event