Raphaël Besson

BIO

Raphaël Besson is an expert in urban socio-economics and a doctor of Urbanism and Territorial Sciences (from the University of Grenoble). In 2013, he founded Villes Innovations, a design consultancy based in Madrid and Grenoble that specialises in innovative urbanism, creative cities and “third places”. Affiliated with the PACTE laboratory, its research focuses on public territorial innovation and cultural policies. His thesis explored the notion of Cognitive Urban Systems through an analysis of large-scale urban projects in Buenos Aires, Barcelona and Grenoble.

Raphaël Besson is currently working on innovation and cultural development programmes for projects including Grand Paris Seine Oise, Urban Living Lab in Marseille and City Lab in Greater Nantes, as well as for the European initiatives Interreg-med (“Coworkmed”) and Europan (“Productive Cities”).