William Mitchell, Carlo Ratti, Dennis Frenchman

Cannes today functions mostly as a tourist, festival, and retirement destination. But it has the potential to play a new, far more dynamic role. Its climate and lifestyle attractions, its connections to the film and media world, and its proximity to the Sophia Antipolis technopole, position it to become a leading center of the creative industries. The focus of this workshop is on innovative development, urban design, and technological infrastructure strategies to achieve that goal.

Cannes has partnered with MIT to develop an approach for a new high-technology neighborhood on one of the last available waterfront sites (more than 30 ha) near the downtown. A multidisciplinary team composed by students from MIT Departments of Urban Studies and Planning, Architecture, Media Lab and Harvard GSD has been working develop specific architectural, urban, and technological interventions that will initiate beneficial urban change.