Banc d’Essai is a unique initiative by the city of Saint-Étienne that transforms public space into a vast urban design laboratory. At each edition of the International Design Biennial, since 2015, the city installs innovative street furniture prototypes in different locations around the city.
Banc d’Essai is not just an urban design operation, it’s also an open invitation to citizen participation and city co-creation. By encouraging residents to take part in the process of designing and evaluating street furniture, the city of Saint-Étienne is promoting innovation and the emergence of more sustainable, more aesthetically pleasing street furniture, better adapted to the needs of its citizens.
