With 3,500 homes, a significant amount of which are joint owned, the Clichy-sous-Bois/Montfermeil “Grand Ensemble” (residential estate), built in the sixties, has faced serious economic, social and urban problems for several years. It has been subject to an urban renovation project (PRU) of significant scope, signed 17 December 2004 and affecting 3000 homes. This ambitious program is the largest in France, involving the mobilisation of 600 million euros over five years.

The project is interested in memories and records in the broadest sense, of the building, young, old, the collective history, the history of families, confronting yesterday’s history with that of today, looking at hopes and fears for tomorrow. The name, “Plural memories”, refers to these highly varied approaches as well as the diverse origins of inhabitants. To encourage the emergence of these actions, a part time coordinator position was created in the Dhuys inter-municipal social centre.

In the context of the urban renewal program, associations in the Grand Ensemble have mobilised with a desire to work with inhabitants on the “memories” project. A “memories workshop” steering committee was set up with the aim of integrating actions aimed at recording the neighbourhood, life stories of its inhabitants and its communities, keeping track of the life of the Grand Ensemble, with a view to making the most of the work carried out by the inhabitants themselves.

Different work was carried out and submitted during the two “memory forums” in October 2004 and June 2005. These hosted photographic exhibitions created by young people and women in the neighbourhood, film screenings, theatrical presentations. Presentations of interviews with inhabitants on their “life story” have made it possible to enter into a debate with inhabitants. These forums were an opportunity to encourage social links, sharing, exchanges between communities and generations.

The plural memory project and related events have enabled young people and inhabitants in the neighbourhood to express their thoughts on the city, but also to better understand its history, its heritage, how it runs, to understand how and why the Grand Ensemble was built.

In 2004, a coordinator was recruited to collect material, public and private (photos, films), gather together and make the best use of “memory” actions in the context of a joint project, but also initiate and develop actions with educators, coordinators and all partners related to the Grand Ensemble, its histories and its transformations. A nursery school, a primary school, three colleges, eight associations and different municipal services of Clichy-sous-Bois/Montfermeil invested in the program.

Dhuys inter-municipal social centre
France
Mrs. Agnès Faulcon (Dhuys social centre Director), tel. +33 1 45 09 62 42

//2004

case

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration > Community development

Citizens' participation