Fairville mid-term meeting : three days of workshops, debates and visits

From June 27 and 29, 2024, the Fairville project's mid-term meeting took its “quartiers d’été” in Marseille, bringing together all the project teams for three days of exchanges, debates, workshops and site visits.Here is the summary of the content of the various exchanges (the project's mid-term progress report), and below a brief review of the three-day event.

During the first day, the first workshop focused specifically on the methods developed (and difficulties encountered) by each Fairville lab in addressing local spatial inequalities through co-production. In contrast to the top-down approach sometimes adopted by institutions, the Fairville labs discussed the possibilities of fomenting the construction of strong social bonds (between local communities and support networks) in order to face situations of social, spatial and environmental injustice.

Hélène Froment (Un Centre Ville Pour tous), credits : Arnaud Kaba.

Considering that these different forms of injustice are often linked to epistemic injustices, the question of the tools and methods that can facilitate a knowledge sharing process appeared to be a key issue: for a shared understanding of urban projects or infrastructures that affect our territories, or for circulating the voices and claims of communities directly concerned.

On this topic, a workshop coordinated by members of Just Space and Un Centre Ville Pour Tous took place around the keywords to be explored, as a basis for a coproduction of knowledge around several topics linked with the project. We thus discussed the links between concepts and initiatives developed locally, to explore how specific "words" and ideas (such as: "Environmental justice", "Institutional activism", "Commons" or "Empowerment / Power sharing") translate into "action" in the different Fairville labs.

This first day was concluded with a visit to the exhibition produced as part of the Marseille lab Workshop 4-5, at the Beausoleil municipal cultural center (4th district). Organized by Claire Bénit-Gbaffou, Mathilde Jourdam-Boutin and Thomas Ramonda, this exhibition aimed to present the work of the students from Aix-Marseille University, associated to the lab. Four series of projects involving "co-production" with local authorities of the 4th and 5th districts of Marseille were presented, related to different thematics : the use of municipal baths, the challenges and developments related to the Beausoleil area, the landscape architects' efforts to reinvent public spaces in both districts, and the development of educational gardens.

During the second day of our mid-term meeting, a series of workshops (in small groups and plenary sessions) were held on the theme of the relationship between activism and institutionalisation, with the participation of project members and guests from various local authorities or citizens collectives linked to different Fairville labs (notably from the town hall of the 4th district of Marseille, the Collective of Organized Residents of the 3rd district of Marseille (CHO3), the public development society SPLA-IN or the municipality of Ixelles in Brussels). A specific part of this session was organized into nine discussion circles, each consisting of five to eight participants with shared positions or thematic interests. To create safe spaces for reflection on the tensions and challenges associated with institutionalization, institutional and civil society actors from the same city were not seated together.

Barbara Lipietz (DPU - University College London), credits : Arnaud Kaba

This workshop was followed, during the afternoon of our second day, by a specific session on "co-assessment of co-production" animated by Chloé Verlinden (EGEB - Brussels) and Alima El Bajnouni (Centre Ville Pour Tous / Appuii - Marseille). This session allowed us to have a comparative discussion on indicators to be used in order to conduct a co-evaluation process. An important and interesting debate took place on the co-evaluation grid under construction, allowing us to conclude that it should be adapted, if needed, to each specific local contexts. The day concluded with a visit - in small groups - to the Belle de Mai district, where we participated in the CHO3 collective's birthday party at the Comptoir de la Victorine, with a shared meal, theater performances, and concerts.

On the third day, the morning was dedicated to an event open to the public, at the CCO Bernard Dubois social center, with two roundtables on the construction of local, national and international networks, bringing together mobilized collectives of residents. The roundtables gathered representatives of different groups and networks (the collective of residents of the Airbel district, in Marseille, members of the London network Just Space, the French association Appuii, Papa Keita, representing the Senegalese NGO Urbasen and Slum Dwellers International and Sophia Torres, from the Habitat International Coalition). During very rich discussions (facilitated by a great team of interpreters allowing simultaneous translation into French and English), we explored the tools enabling a broadening of local initiatives, the trajectories and difficulties of building local and international networks, the possibilities of making them sustainable and deeply linked to local communities.

Members of Appuii, Airbel district residents collective (Marseille), Un Centre Ville Pour Tous (Marseille) and Just Space (London).

Finally, this last day of the Fairville meetings concluded with a series of visits (always in small groups), during the afternoon, to various collectives and resident mobilizations in the city of Marseille (from the city center to the northern districts). At the end of this last day, some of us then ended the stay with a collective walk on the Frioul Islands, allowing us to refresh ourselves and debrief from these three days of very exciting discussions in front of a beautiful sunset.

You can access detailed summaries of the discussions, and some avenues for reflection opened up by the exchanges, by clicking on this link.