The Terrain, the Player and the Consultant

We undertook our first tour of the neighbourhood with local residents, setting out to explore the entire Pleyel area of Saint-Denis. We set up workshops for texts, graphic design, discussions with the youth branch … so many ways to try and read the neighbourhood and the issues and concerns that surround its transformation.

The Pleyel neighbourhood is fragmented, with apartment buildings tucked in amongst huge office blocks. At first sight, the neighbourhood appears hermetically sealed so that employees and local residents never rub up against each other, so that even residents never really meet each other. But many participants from hugely different backgrounds took part, proof of the wealth of local engagement and creativity, and a genuine desire to be part of a collective project. Their commitment enabled us to create a large number of editions and publications: printed and audio postcards of the neighbourhood, posters displayed throughout the public space, placemats distributed to restaurants and cafés printed with advertisements for internships: a cartography of necessity and yearning.