Charlotte Malterre-Barthes

Curatorial Practice

8 Questions sur des Sujets Urbains: Noailles, Euromed, Parc Kallisté—Marseille

Will a rejuvenation of the 3 windows-typology save Noailles? Can the co-ownerships of Noailles be united and envisage a collective renovation? Are inhabitants' cooperatives the future of a more solidarity city? Is it necessary to demolish a neighborhood to make another? Isn't maintaining what already exists the most powerful act of sustainable development? Should the city be built in one day? Isn't it more urgent to build social housing rather than demolish it? And what if the Grand Ensemble was finally the best form of housing?

Following a week of in situ exploration with the Bureau des Guides 13, the students of the Master in Urban Design (MAS Urban Design) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ ) formulated these questions and lines of thought, sometimes naïve, sometimes inspired, sometimes provocative, hoping to contribute to the ongoing conversation.

These 8 questions are addressed in the projects presented but they also raise many others: Must the Grand Ensemble die in order to live again? Yet, from its balcony, don't you have the most beautiful view of Marseille? Can an architect be against demolition to remain credible? Who maintains your building? ...

Nourished by situations and exchanges collected on-site with inhabitants and actors, users and administrations, activists and professionals, the exhibition questioned themselves on some contemporary urban subjects in Marseille and took a critical look at three Marseille sites: the Noailles district, phase 2 of the Euroméditerranée project and the co-ownerships of the Parc Kallisté.

Produced in the frame of the MAS Urban Design Studio Inclusive Marseille with Bureau des Guides 13 and Something Fantastic, at Bureau des Guides 13, La Canebiére, Marseille from May to October 2019.