Urban and regional planning community CEAT

The Communauté d’Études pour l’Aménagement du Territoire (CEAT) is a group of researchers whose works address questions related to the built environment from a multidisciplinary perspective, carrying therefore advanced research on spatial planning. Moreover, the Community’s objectives include teaching (Bachelor, Master and PhD students) and providing high level expertise services for public authorities. By focusing on the creation of synergies, CEAT favors collective, networked actions, aiming to promote the multiple connections between people, institutions, disciplines and the social space (“territories”), at different levels: local, regional, transnational and global.

© 2026 EPFL

AquaShield: AI-Driven Water Leak Detection

— AquaShield is a fast-growing research and innovation project developing AI-based monitoring systems for building water distribution networks, with the aim of detecting and localizing leaks before they lead to structural damage, downtime, or costly repairs. The project addresses a critical blind spot in building operations: despite being a major source of risk, internal water networks are largely unmonitored. The initiative is led by Marguerite Benoist and Paul Beckers, whose expertise spans machine learning, anomaly detection, robotics, and digital twins, with academic backgrounds from MIT, EPFL, Harvard, RWTH Aachen, and Tsinghua University. AquaShield sits at the intersection of physical infrastructure systems and advanced time-series machine learning, translating cutting-edge research into real-world impact.

© 2026 EPFL

International Hybrid Symposium

— Youth, Digital Access, Urban Participation, Health and Well-Being in the Global South 12–13 March 2026 | Hybrid Format | Call for papers | Digital technologies, especially smartphones and mobile internet, are profoundly transforming the way young people learn, work, interact and participate in urban life. However, effective access to digital technology and its uses remain marked by strong territorial, social and gender inequalities, particularly in secondary cities in the Global South. This international symposium offers a space for interdisciplinary dialogue to analyze urban digital ecosystems, the digital practices of young people, and their effects on urban participation, health and well-being. It will highlight local innovations, digital participation schemes and public policies that promote inclusion.

© 2025 EPFL

Farewell to Jiale Liang: A Year of Research and Collaboration at EPFL

— As his one-year academic journey at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) comes to an end, we extend our heartfelt appreciation to Jiale Liang, a visiting PhD student from Nanjing University, China, for his outstanding contributions to research and collaboration within the School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC), CEAT Lab.

All news