Youri Gagarine District, Romainville, France
Description of the space
Romainville is located 3 km east of Paris, at the eastern end of the hill of Belleville, in the department of Seine-Saint-Denis (93) and the Ile-de-France region. On 344 hectares, the commune has 26,510 inhabitants (INSEE 2016). It belongs to the Territoire d'Est Ensemble, which includes nine towns and more than 400,000 inhabitants.
The City of Romainville is a key area of the Paris metropolis, soon to be connected to the heavy transport networks (metro line 11 in 2023, Tramway T1 in 2024 and the TZen 3 (high-service bus) along the RN3 axis in 2023). The strengthening of public transport, the economic changes underway, linked to the area's industrial past, and its popular character translate into diversified development prospects for the city. The requalification, completed or in progress, of all social housing districts, and the implementation of structuring development operations show the municipal will to ensure the sustainable development of the area. The Municipality of Romainville has also been committed for many years to a proactive approach aimed at ensuring sustainable economic development. This long term challenge is targeted through support for the establishment and growth of tertiary premises and activities related to the social and solidarity economy.
The City, owner of the building delivered in November 2020 and project owner, has decided to operate the Cité Maraîchère under the direction of municipal staff. To this end, a new "Cité Maraîchère" department was created in May 2020, which will be responsible for an integration site workshop (ACI). This department is made up of four divisions: market gardening, education, coffee-canteen (restaurant) and entertainment.. The Cité Maraîchère is designed as a new living space for the inhabitants of the Marcel Cachin working-class district and Romainville in general. Thus, the multi-purpose spaces, the culinary laboratory and the coffee-canteen in the evening are available free of charge or at very affordable rates for local stakeholders. In addition, the Cité Maraîchère will be able to welcome, in its operating areas, researchers and action-research project leaders for tests and practical experiments on urban agriculture. Inhabitants will also participate in the design, implementation and maintenance of outdoor "edible" spaces through participatory processes. Depending on the themes, partnerships with local associations and companies are essential to anchor the Cité Maraîchère in its territory. The City's departments may be involved in the programming: Maison de la Philosophie, Maison des Retraités, Maison des Associations, Médiathèque Romain Rolland, Cinéma le Trianon, École Nationale de Musique, Pavillon (auditorium), local spaces (social centres).
Existing urban farming activities
The Cité Maraîchère is located in the heart of the Marcel Cachin priority district, and is the culmination of a vast urban renewal program operated between 2007 and 2017, in partnership with the State, the National Agency for Urban Renewal, the Ile de France Region and the Departmental Council of Seine-Saint-Denis. This redevelopment was designed in response to precise objectives set by the municipality, in consultation with the inhabitants: to improve the living environment of the inhabitants, to open up the district to make it the heart of the city, and to restore a social mix, all in accordance with the principles of sustainable development. In order to promote greater social diversity throughout the city, 80% of the 563 housing units demolished were rebuilt in the old city centre in mixed-use residences. Numerous buildings have been renovated, creating clearly identifiable public and private spaces for a better appropriation of the district by its inhabitants. Finally, new traffic routes now open up new perspectives. A large number of public facilities have been created, rebuilt or rehabilitated as part of the project: the Romain Rolland Media Library, the Children´s house, the Retirement home, the Marcel Cachin local area, the Louise Michel Municipal Health Centre and the Centre medico-psycho-pedagogue, the Collette Besson sports complex and the Marcel Cachin school group. All of these municipal facilities will be as much support as possible for the development of activities at Cité Maraîchère. To be completed by November 2020, the Cité Maraîchère is a new building consisting of a vertical greenhouse spread over two towers of three and six floors, a ground floor with a coffee-canteen and educational areas, outdoor spaces and a basement for mushroom growing.
The Cité Maraîchère building, its operation and the activities that will be carried out are designed following ecological principles, including the use of rainwater for crop watering, the adoption of substrates from composted urban waste, avoidance of synthetic chemical inputs, use of certified organic seeds and plants, fostering of natural light, heat and ventilation in the production floors, intelligent bio-climatic management of the growing areas backed by a mini weather station to optimize settings, sorting of organic waste and installation of a neighborhood composter. Wood boiler for public reception areas, use of cork for insulation and a reinforced thermal envelope and solar protection, greening of outdoor spaces, coffee-canteen furniture made from recycled materials. The agronomic model that will be developed in the Cité Maraîchère has no equivalent today. Nevertheless, the building relies on "low-technologies", with exception of the building envelope and the control of the openings, solar masks and watering only. All the rest of the model will use simple materials and rely on organic by-products (e.g. growing medium made of composted urban waste and vermicompost) and smart climate management (through use of natural light and heat/energy fluxes within the greenhouse). No use of artificial lighting (e.g. LED) is considered, therefore energy consumption will be minimal.
Vision
Student teams are expected to develop a model for activities within the Cité Maraichere, toward the creation of territorial public transition food and social justice service.
Main elements that shall be targeted within the projects are the following:
Territorial integration: creation of a sustainable and solidarity-based food ecosystem; integration into a larger ecosystem on the scale of Greater Paris and the surrounding rural territory.
Economic sustainability: implementation of an economic model that integrates a multiplicity of activities (farming, training, entertainment, catering, sales, etc.); inclusion in a circular economy and re-employment logic; participation in urban development and the economic development of working-class neighborhoods;
Social inclusion: targeting different social groups and involving local inhabitants in the project toward engagement and space appropriation.
The project will benefit from public service supported by Romainville's city council. It is integrated in urban renewal projects and will count on the support of public policies, a diverse local ecosystem within well-served neighborhoods close to the city centre and close to Paris. The Cité Maraîchère will bring a multiplicity of players involved and will count on a new, well-equipped building representing a showcase location with potentialities also as international case study or tourism attractiveness. Within the Cité Maraîchère, the choice of using natural light only and the avoidance of supplemental heating may reduce productivity in winter season.
Resources
The economic model of the project has not yet stabilized. It is necessary to build on the experience of the first two years of experimentation and cultivation in order to be able to deduce the major figures and budget balances. The main lines of the economic model are as follows:
- The new operating principle of the project validated by the City is that of a public service bringing benefits to users, finding a balance itself as a social entrepreneurship project. Supported by the community budget which will “buy” services and products to the Cité Maraîchère, the 4 business units of this Municipal department (garden marketing, education, restaurant and entertainment) should after 2 years be profitable, at the service of the municipal policy. If necessary, the City Maraîchère will find for other subsidies through calls for projects related to sustainable food, urban agriculture and integration. After 2 years of experimentation, a model can be built - with the support of the City's trade representative, in particular - which will make it possible to envisage a medium-term balance.
- The project is operated in the form of a Workshop for Integration (Atelier Chantier d'Insertion - ACI), to be set up within the framework of an agreement between the Prefect of the department and the City, after consultation with the Departmental Council for Integration through Economic Activity (CDIAE) and taking into account the existing offer to ensure a balanced development of social and professional integration actions. In this respect, the City receives from the State (via DIRECCTE 93) an aid to the post, which enables it to cover the salary costs of employees in integration, as well as part of the socio-professional support posts. Aid will also be sought to finance the training of employees in integration. The project is also supported by the ESF via the PLIE Ensemble pour l'Emploi.
- The project's income is linked to the sale of production (with an increase in output as the growing areas are delivered) in the form of baskets of fruit, vegetables, mushrooms and microgreens. Processed products and dishes will be served at the coffee-canteen from Monday to Saturday from 9 am to 8 pm. Revenue also will come from the sale of educational and general public events and the provision of spaces (workshops, evening coffee-canteen, and cooking laboratories). Because of its experimental nature, it is difficult to estimate the amount of these components at current time, but work is planned to monitor and improve the economic model. The first objectives put forward are as follows: annual production of 6 tons of market garden produce and 4 tons of mushrooms, panel of 50 educational workshops for 1000 hours of school activities and 600 hours of activities and visits for the general public, 50 hours of training. The coffee-canteen has an initial capacity of absorbing 50 tons per day, and 80 tons per day are expected in the medium term, as well as a provision of the catering area for 2 to 3 evenings per week.
The services – education, environment, social… - developed responding to the municipal policy for food transition and social justice will have to be assessed in the global budget, which will be important for the balance of the 4 departments - garden marketing, education, restaurant and entertainment.
- Other sources of funding: FoodE project, ESF, DIRECCTE, Seine-Saint-Denis Departmental Council, Est Ensemble, calls for projects, city self-financing.
- It should be noted that the tariffs are subject to Municipal Decisions and that vegetable tariffs will be adapted to income, according to the method of calculating family coefficients.
Main objectives
The main objective is the creation of a public service for urban agriculture. The Cité Maraîchère represents an important investment for the community and its partners, providing a quality public service with multiple facets, including the promotion of the Romainvillois.es food bowl, creation of local jobs, integration, creation of a new neighborhood living space, nature in the city, cultural programming. As a true "living laboratory for cultivating the city of tomorrow" and promoting living together, it is thus participating in the dynamic undertaken by the City of Romainville to accompany the transition by building an original path that affirms an opening to the world, and carries a vision of solidarity and optimism. It offers the opportunity to accompany the economic, social and cultural dynamics of a changing territory, by associating it with its rich horticultural and market gardening past. The project shall comprehensively target social, environmental and economic aspects.
Social aspects will include facilitating access for all to sustainable food, through adapted and variable tariffs according to each person's income. Furthermore, the project should foster social diversity and living together, creating jobs for integration, support and training for people in difficulty, developing integration networks through urban agriculture, improving the quality of life of vulnerable people, offering dignified, accessible and quality food aid and reducing social exclusion for the most vulnerable households
Environmental aspects will be targeted through the production of fruits, vegetables and mushrooms locally, following ecological principles. The project will also raise awareness on the main environmental issues (climate change, scarcity of resources, accelerated loss of biodiversity, food wastage, waste) to move towards new ways of consuming and producing food, working and living together. The project shall play an active role in the transformation of urban spaces and the integration of nature in the city and constitute a resource and experimentation centre for urban agriculture.
Finally, from an economic perspective, the project shall encourage the emergence of projects related to sustainable food (incubation of chefs, reception of newcomers in the process of being created).
Keywords
Sustainability; circular economy; urban agriculture; solidarity food; participation of the inhabitants.
Opportunities for participating teams
The winning projects could be presented to the inhabitants in the form of an exhibition. Students may elaborate up to 3 exhibition panels (e.g., 1 vertical A3 panel presenting the project as a whole; 1 A3 panel with a ground plan and presentation of the members of the student team; 1 vertical A3 panel with 2/3 focus (archi, computer graphics, design object...). The winning projects could also serve as a basis for discussion and presentation to the new municipal representatives, elected in June 2020.
Further information
The Cité Maraîchère is a public service for urban agriculture and solidarity food provided by the City of Romainville in the form of a work integration project. It brings together in one place: market gardening (a 6-storey greenhouse of 1000 m2, a mushroom farm of 100 m2 and a first roof of 350 m2), catering, sales, training, research, gardening, and composting, culinary, cultural and scientific events. The challenge: to promote access to fresh and healthy produce for modest households and to offer environmental education to all. A new place to live and meet in the heart of the popular Marcel Cachin district, it also creates local jobs and trains and supports people far from work.
