It was as a teacher at UP8 that I contacted the mayor of Coupvray, who had proposed a reflection on his commune, offering him the opportunity to work with the inhabitants and the mayor's office, along with my students, on the problems facing the commune. I remember that, at the time, the UP8 was made up of small groups and chapels around other teachers, and as I'd never been in the inner circle, I preferred to take a different path, putting back into practice the school/field duality I'd experienced in India.

In Coupvray, we had a room accessible from the street, adjoining the town hall. Residents could enter as they wished. I also wanted to attract students and teachers of different levels and disciplines. Communal and inter-communal planning is a key stage in urban development, and students should be able to follow at least part of the process during their training. The problem of housing and habitat must be included in this process, as it is automatically linked to problems of employment, social policy and communication.

We also carried out projects to "help define needs", as school projects of course, but which were intended to illustrate different layout options and serve as examples of decision-making aids.
I was opposed to the Ville Nouvelle de Marne-la-Vallée, just as I had been to Cergy-Pontoise, and just as I would have been against the establishment of Disneyland, which subsequently took in the whole of Coupvray and its superb farmland.
What a disaster!

The following year, we continued in the neighboring commune of Quincy-Voisin.

As my architectural projects took up more of my time, and without knowing what the hierarchy of teaching posts meant, I successively gave up my teaching post for that of assistant, then for that of lecturer, and finally I gave it all up. I must be a rare specimen, if not the only one, who has "sacrificed" a future as a teacher in this way.

I do have a different approach to teaching than is generally the case in France. This is partly due to my initial experience in Anglo-Saxon countries, where schools of architecture are in fact departments within Environmental Universities, bringing together Urban Planning, Urban Design", Landscape Design, Management of Large Green Spaces, Economic and Social Sciences and art disciplines.
This is what I applied and developed in India and tried to initiate in France.