1. Reassembling Marseille's mosaic: urban planning in service of a post-World War II imagined identity.
- Author
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Schmid, Eliane
- Subjects
- *
URBAN planning , *MUNICIPAL government , *PUBLIC officers , *URBAN planners , *CONSTRUCTION projects , *PUBLIC spaces - Abstract
Socio-spatial divisions between districts in the North and South have marked the port-city of Marseille since the post-World War II urban reconstruction period. This article analyses the decades spanning the 1940s to the 1960s Vieux Port area as well as the HLM (Habitation à Loyer Modéré, or rent controlled properties) building projects in the North of the city. This reveals a dual strategy deployed by urban planners as well as municipal and national government officials in response to an increasing immigrant workforce involving relocation into HLMs and (re-)designing public spaces. City planners, architects, and officials aimed to reconfigure the neighbourhoods in which people were to be housed and to strengthen the narrative of Marseille as a Mediterranean gateway, attracting investors and tourists, a process which also helped the city to gain a favourable reputation in Europe. The way in which urban planning, social housing initiatives, and public space designs unfolded in post-World War II Marseille has played a pivotal role in shaping the city's present-day social and geographical divisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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