Thesis supervisor
: Jean-Pierre Lévy
Architecture as a marker of risk, at the risk of urban temporalities
The passage through catastrophe has imprisoned most research on risk in event history. Going beyond this stance and following in the footsteps of Fernand Braudel, our thesis is part of the long-term history, documented by "the morphological trajectory of the urban territory" and "the careers of architecture ." In other words, we will draw on the traces of the history of the morphology of territories to understand architecture as a process of stabilizing an inhabited and meaningful materiality anchored in socio-technical networks. Our hypothesis is that the hybridization of architecture makes it possible to identify the movement of these historical strata (in the sense of Marcel Roncayolo) by revealing situations of risk and their resolution. The thesis aims to discuss this hypothesis through a historical approach, rooted in architectural theory and sociogeographical references. The ultimate goal is to propose an innovative approach to architecture by showing that it can reveal the unstable nature and volatile dimensions of risk.
The old center of Tunis provides the basis for our empirical approach. This choice is mainly justified by the fact that it is an area exposed to risks, yet has not recently suffered any catastrophic events. Our analysis is based on the study of three architectural typologies representative of the history of Tunis: a traditional house, a European building, and a spontaneous dwelling. They allow us to identify three levels of understanding of the dynamics of risk production in relation to scientific, economic, social, and even ecological circumstances: 1/ the crystallization of risks through technical hybridization via risky attachments, 2/ the amplification of risks through the hybridization of uses and standards, 3/ the fluctuation of risk situations due to their recalcitrant nature. In line with the paradigm of the extensive roots of risks, the thesis highlights its generative processes through the prism of urban temporalities and architectural hybridizations. It reveals the importance of documenting the belief and knowledge systems of each territory. The loss of memory of natural disasters, combined with the loss and alienation of knowledge about hazards, social norms, architectural materialities, and ways of living, are the driving forces behind risk situations. Ultimately, this thesis proposes the construction of an architectural knowledge of risks based on an indexical logic, which is part of a restitution of historical knowledge reactivated by feedback.
Thesis defense on Friday, October 8, 2021
Keywords
: Risks – Architectures – Hybridizations – Materialities – Temporalities – Tunis
Year of enrollment
: 2013
Doctoral school
: VTT – City, Transportation, and Territories
Composition of the jury
Abdallah Farhi, Professor at the University of Tunis (co-director)
Jean Pierre Lévy, CNRS Research Director at LATTS (co-director)
Michel Lussault, Professor at ENS Lyon (rapporteur)
Valérie November, CNRS Research Director at LATTS
Marie-Vic Ozouf-Marignier, Research Director at EHESS
Pascale Philifert, University Professor, University of Paris Nanterre
Jeffrey Raven, Associate Professor at the New York Institute of Technology
Magali Reghezza-Zitt, Lecturer at ENS Paris (rapporteur)