On the last meeting of our ERASMUS+-project FOCUS in sunny Champagné close to Le Mans in April 2022 the participants concentrated on political issues connected to urban living. As on the meetings before we experienced a mix of interesting visits with guided tours and intense work.
After the groups from Poland, Spain and Germany had arrived on Sunday the week started with get-to-know games including a nice game of Evolution 😉. To promote the project in the town of Champagné we also visited the local primary school to present our different schools and the project we are working on in multinational teams. After lunch work started: we welcomed representatives of different NGOs in school who told us about needs of handicapped people, problems bike riders face and how important the reduction, avoidance and collection of waste is – especially in cities. To finish the day a curator from Le Mans’ Plein Champ street-art-festival explained the choice of this year’s artist for the happening in Guy-Malny Park this summer to prepare for our visit the following day.
Before spending a nice time in the park, however, different groups went to find out something about waste management in a big city like Le Mans. Therefore, one group went to the local incineration plant while the other had a look at a recycling centre to find out what happens to our waste and what can be done with it – for example supplying warm water and heating to households after burning it. Of course, the contrast to the park was immense, although waste can be found there, too. After our picknick we had a look at last year’s results of Plein Champ that are scattered in the park and often invite you to think about the meaning but also to take lots of photos. 
The highlight of the meeting clearly was the following Wednesday when the group went on a trip to Nantes and St. Nazaire, which both have seen a redevelopment in the past – at least in some parts. In Nantes we visited the Ile de Nantes situated in the middle of the city. There you can find an area that has been redeveloped since the 1990s after the huge shipyards had been closed down due to ships becoming bigger and bigger. While the tourist attraction, Les Maschines de l’Ile, is really impressive with the big machine elephant you can ride and the merry-go-round inspired by the works of Jules Verne in the area there have also been built lots of apartment blocks and some colleges framed by a collection of art installations. Clearly this is an example of how cities can look like in the future.
In St. Nazaire, on the other hand, you see a small town dominated by a German U-boat shelter built during World War II. After finding out that a destruction is nearly impossible the town decided to use it as a place for cultural venues. On a guided tour of St. Nazaire we also learned how the town itself has been rebuilt after the almost complete destruction during the war following traditions as well as adjusting to new needs like more space for cars. Today the town is growing and starting to use its touristic potential which we could experience on a nice walk on the beach. 
The remaining two days were then used to work in different workshops on what we have learned. Besides a workshop for everyone on parkour giving an introduction to a sport that everyone can do in an urban environment the participants produced power-point presentations on questions like what a smart city in the future looks like, had debates on different questions concerning the future of urban living, put together a photo exhibition for the school’s halls, an escape game and even wrote a letter to the local representative in the Assemblée Nationale, Marietta Karamanli, who had discussed with the students for one hour on her visit to the project on Thursday morning. Especially in the letter it once again became clear that the future of living together in cities in the future will need clever and timely solutions to the problems that everyone can see.
Kay Tomhave
