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Two design students were awarded the Futurapolis prize last Wednesday for their project to adapt the Furan (underground river) , a response to the migration crisis.

Winners of the Futurapolis prize, which aims to encourage students to work on sustainable solutions, Coline Declef and Marie Venon, two students from the École supérieure d'Art et de Design, were awarded first prize in this competition by a representative of Urban Rhône-Alpes, an association created at the initiative of professors of design, urban planning and architecture from the region. Their concept, which attracted the jury's attention, aims to respond to the migratory flows caused by global warming. In this regard, reinvesting the Furan through underground housing would be a win-win scenario. For the City, which could collect information on life underground, and for migrants who would benefit from a place of hospitality.

At first sight, the idea developed by the two students seems eccentric. And it is. In reality, it is a completely fake performance, reminiscent of a sketch if the subject was not so dramatic. For through this scenario, or performance, the two instigators aimed to stimulate a debate on the conditions of acceptance of refugees, and also to question the public on its ability to adopt an idea as soon as it was of an institutional nature.

The passers-by, to whom this Furan development project was presented, thought it was a quite good idea! Without questioning for a moment the infeasibility of such a project, or even the indecency of its character.

Stéphanie Véron