Parc Cité internationale universitaire de Paris

The Cité internationale universitaire de Paris occupies land that was once part of the Enceinte de Thiers, a massive defensive wall and series of fortifications that ringed Paris starting in the mid-nineteenth century. Following the First World War, these aging military structures were deemed obsolete, and the land was reclaimed to transform a former barrier into a site for international cooperation. Founders like André Honnorat and Paul Appell envisioned this space as a school of human relations, believing that if students from different nations lived and studied side by side, they would forge the personal bonds necessary to prevent future global conflict.