My name is Florence Malgras, I am a fourth-year student pursuing an Honors degree in Urban Studies with a double minor in Political Science and Hispanic Studies. The focus of my undergraduate studies has been at the nexus of urban development, policy innovation and global governance.
As I enter my final year of study this Fall 2022, I aspire to pursue graduate studies in the field of sustainable urban policy with a long-term objective of working on sustainable urban development projects. Obtaining an internship closely related to my future academic and professional ambitions was a major objective I have this year. I am grateful to have joined OpenCitiz in Paris, mainly as it aligns perfectly with my interests in innovative urban policy. It was a wonderful opportunity for me to further explore my interests, apply my skills and finally determine if this is a career path I would like to pursue. Starting this internship, I had two specific objectives: learn as much as possible from experts in the field and contribute to their projects with the skills I gained throughout my time at McGill.
OpenCitiz is a strategy consulting firm specialized in territorial public policies. The company works alongside the public sector to guide the structuring and implementation of the policies aimed at facilitating the digital and environmental transitions in cities. The company also helps private firms who seek to understand and interact with territorial public bodies, to do so. OpenCitiz integrates a technological component in every aspect of policy development and places the users at the center of its work.
While I was at OpenCitiz I worked on several different projects including background research to answer calls for tenders, sourcing for innovative projects and benchmarking smart urban policies. I also created a database for available funding from the European Commission for smart cities projects depending on their regional-linked entities. I participated in several webinars on the digital transition of French cities and on the issue of citizen inclusiveness as well as one in-person conference on methods to build a smart city project.
The main challenge I faced was to quickly understand the technical questions at stake on each project in order to operationally research. Specifically, I struggled more on less tangible projects related to digital uses and services and their strategic deployment in French rural department (Creuse, Indre et Cher). Fortunately, my supervisor and colleagues were very pedagogues and took time to go deeper in their explanations. Another challenge I faced was directly related to working, most of the time, remotely from home. It can be a difficult situation particularly at the beginning of the internship when I get to discover the tasks and how the company works internally. I had the chance to have a quiet apartment to work which was very beneficial for my overall productivity. I also very appreciated the daily morning meetings with the team that help settle our objectives for the day.
One of the major highlights of my internship has been the opportunities allowing me to attend the Salon des Maires d鈥橧le de France where I got the chance to meet professionals in the field of urban planning, active transportation and real estate willing to present their brand-new projects on smart cities. This experience was very enriching in various aspects and it gave me the feeling I had managed to be integrated in the 鈥渦rban policy bubble鈥�.
Although I will not be receiving academic credit for this internship, it has nevertheless positively impacted my university experience by providing me a unique opportunity to work in my future career field. Moreover, by living in Paris for 2 months I had the opportunity to collect my data for my Honors thesis that looks at the perception of danger when cycling in Paris. I met wonderful people and experienced the Parisien bike paths. As such, this internship has shaped my education path as I am still committed to pursue a master鈥檚 degree in urban policy and strategy. However, I am now considering specializing and working in a more tangible subfield such as mobility planning or housing in contrast to what I mainly researched at OpenCitiz.
Last but not least, I would like to thank the Dean of Art Development Fund, through which I received the Arts Internship Award. The generous funding allowed me to live close to the office and helped me with my everyday expenses. Thanks for making this memorable summer experience possible!
