Les Mystères de l’UNIL

2016 saw the 11th edition of Les Mystères de l’UNIL that focused on the theme of The City. Nearly 10,000 people, including 2200 students, participated in this open-door event at l’Université de Lausanne where 300 researchers put on 24 workshops and 9 laboratories to fascinate one and all.

For our part, The Catalyst was involved in devising and performing an interactive debate. This debate centered on an imaginary city that had just been discovered in the mountains of Switzerland. Due to the depletion of a mysterious mineral that had once protected the city, the inhabitants came to Lausanne to seek help in developing their city, Kryptopolis, to make it thrive once again. Students were asked to listen to arguments from different perspectives on urban development, including topics such as commercialism, electricity generation and transportation, and then to vote for their most preferred option. In this way they helped the inhabitants design the Kryptopolis of tomorrow. It was amazing to see how passionate the students were about designing the best city!