Because “the use of public space must not be fixed and definitive”, the city of Strasbourg will experiment with a new “ephemeral use” of its squares, of certain streets. Objective: “to consider a different way of conceiving the making of the city, with associations, citizen projects” explains the first deputy mayor, Syamak Agha-Babaei. With the leitmotif of “reinvesting public space and taking a fresh look at a place or a neighborhood”.
For this first edition, 18 projects have been selected and will run until July 2022, or even until June 2023, for that of rue Wattenau, in Elsau. Projects that benefit from an overall, comfortable budget of 300,000 euros, including 80,000 euros in appropriations from the Department of Culture.
Expected feedback
Visitors will be able to participate in these ephemeral developments, which will address the themes, based on artistic and cultural expression, of “interculturality, intergenerationality, ecology” assures the city. These projects could even “foreshadow future public spaces” and “will be the subject of feedback, a collection of opinions with associations of traders, users, representatives of neighborhood associations” promises Joël Steffen , deputy in charge of trade and crafts, well aware that certain “habits can be upset. “But,” all the projects will not necessarily lead to a lasting development “, executive Syamak Agha-Babaei.
The Place du Temple Neuf will host, for example, the Oasis project, by the architectural firm “Les nouvelle frères”. The idea? Highlight the trees and the built heritage of the place, with circular wooden benches, inclined, facing the temple and which invite contemplation, relaxation or quite simply to be able to picnic. For this installation, nearly a quarter of the parking spaces will be neutralized. For this first edition, the adjacent squares of the Marché-Neuf and the Students will not be affected by this operation.
Other projects, particularly on the theme of ecology, will take place throughout Strasbourg until March, to mention for example only the project of the street art collective Dan 23. From November, a Facebook page will allow acquire “a maximum of knowledge on ecology at the global level but also a presentation of the actions carried out at the local level to promote those which increase ecological awareness in Strasbourg”. Then, the first six frescoes will be painted on street furniture “to inform Strasbourg residents about societal issues linked to ecology” and its local players.
Street art, but also music, meetings, discussions on the theme of equality between women and men or even the fight against discrimination. And also a guided tour, in twenty-two streets, to listen via QR codes to a podcast on each type of tree, mapping, prototypes of street furniture to collect and treat rainwater, music … And even an artistic stroll on the Quai des Bateliers to celebrate the arrival of spring.
