Thierry Paquot, a philosopher of urbanism, is a professor at Paris 12, the editor of Urbanisme magazine, and on the editorial staff of both Hermès and Esprit magazines. His publications are, amongst others, La folie des hauteurs (Bourrin, 2008), Ghettos de riches (Perrin, 2009) and L’espace public (La Découverte, 2009).

He is one of six people to be invited (including Régis Debray and Pierre Rosanvallon) by the French Pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai in 2010 because of his work on sensorial urbanism.