In Living Lab Moving*Marseille we search for inspiration and an answer to the question how superdiversity is the motor of a city in transition.
Marseille is our lab, the city as a research field, practicing community and participatory design, co-creation and innovation. Bringing citymakers together. Reflecting about the city and acting by interventions in Marseille.
Currently we work with 5 approaches to do this: 1/ Chain of Stories about roots and routes of Marseille citizens. 2/ Matchmaking Marseille citymakers in what we like to call “Wetopia” where the city is made together with all kinds of people. 3/ Citizen Twinning, a twinning between Rotterdam and Marseille civilians. 4/ “Verzachtende omstandigheden” a postmailproject about sharing stories with en from Marseille about warm society. 5/ Research about 2600 years of experience with migration and diversity.
About Chain of Stories:
Marseille.
Marseille is a city in motion. Marseille, thanks to its inhabitants, is a perfect example of how a vilified city can evolve to an exciting and vibrant city.
Marseille has been the gateway to Europe for more than 3000 years. Diversity is in its genes. Marseille is different from other cities, and has always been so. Integration and identification with the city are evident . Time and time again, over the centuries, the inhabitants of Marseille have faced extreme challenges, and overcome these thanks to their remarkable resilience. They can therefore be regarded as the laboratory for the challenges of every metropolitan city. New perspectives arise out of the militant chaos. Marseille is, and will always be, a challenging environment.
The “Marseillais”, the inhabitants of the city, and it’s vibrant neighbourhoods, are the thriving force behind Marseille. A multitude of small and large projects have formed this vibrant, dynamic metropole of the Mediterranean. Cosmopolitan, but always with that typical“caractère village” which encourages a togetherness. This authentic character and the unique diversity make Marseille a living lab for a super divers city of the future.
A chain of stories that connect.
With “the living lab Moving*Marseille” we seek the soul of the city and how it contributes to transitions within the city. We collect the stories of the people of Marseille and develop a chain of stories, linking different people in different neighbourhoods, and combine these to create a narrative painting of Marseille.
We collect the stories of 100 citizens of Marseille. Every citizen introduces us to another citizen in another neighbourhood. We register their background, their roots, their occupation and their dreams, personal dreams as well as dreams regarding their neighbourhood or city. We also create a portrait of every contributor in this collective storytelling of Marseille. In this way we collect 100 stories, 100 portraits, 100 dreams, presented in text and visuals. The 100 participants of “the living lab” are the links of a chain that becomes an artistic project on the city map.
Interventions dropping collective dreams.
With these stories, portraits and dreams of the citizens of Marseille, we will organise 10 interventions in the city. This can be organised geographically, by neighbourhood, or on the level of aspirations and dreams, depending on the collected stories. With this we want to mobilise others to identify and share their dreams.
The “living lab Moving*Marseille” shares these stories and the unique connections created through this project, with the inhabitants and visitors of Marseille through blogs, social media, an artistic project, a book, an app and an urban field trip in Marseille.
This way, we want to create awareness of the crucial role the people of Marseille have in the transitions of their city.
