Leader of the project Human Cities_challenging the city scale, the Cité du design Saint-Etienne is a platform of research, higher education, economic development, design and art promotion, carried by the City of Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne Metropolis, and the Rhône-Alpes Region (Ministry of Culture). The Cité du Design and School of Art and Design of Saint-Etienne converge since 2005 in a same structure around a common objective: to develop research through creative acts. Since January 2010, they are grouped Under a Public body of Cultural Cooperation (EPCC).

The Cité du design approach is a human-centred design. A design that enhances the practices and ways of life. that it optimizes the energy, that it accompanies the habitat mutations or facilitates the development of health and mobility.