a change of scale
2025 marked a real change of scale. The project was no longer only about telling l’Almont: it focused on the Trois Tours esplanade and its future. “Imagine ton quartier” is a project for residents to take ownership of the esplanade, combining artistic and media creation, resident consultation and a reflection on redeveloping the space from actual uses and the wishes and needs people expressed.
The aim: that residents’ words should not merely be collected, but become visible, shareable material capable of feeding concrete choices about the future of the space. The project took the name “Imagine ton quartier”; its public presentation, “Dalle, mon futur”.
four partners, one approach
La Boussole
brings residents together, knows the territory, hosts the workshops and ensures day-to-day continuity.
mOst
builds the inquiry, the artistic and documentary tools for consultation, and the production of images, sounds, videos, maps and forms of public presentation.
Au Milieu
turns some of the residents’ aspirations into devices and interim installations.
Gygo
works on the plots and shared vegetable gardens from the maps and projections produced in the workshops.
This articulation is the heart of the project. The works must no longer simply represent what residents want: they must be able to feed the decisions of those who physically act on the space. The workshop maps and projections were thus used by Gygo to think about where to place the vegetable gardens, and by Au Milieu to work on the interim installations.
a summer on the esplanade
The logic was already that of a cycle: observe, propose, experiment, return to the field and look at what has changed.
- 7 → 11 Julyintensive residency at the foot of the towers: maps, photographs, sounds, first constructions
- 6, 7 and 14 Augustback on the esplanade: interviews, drawings on photographs, work on the plots
- 24 Septemberworkshop and exhibition “Dalle, mon futur”, on the esplanade and at La Boussole
- 20 → 24 Octobera new phase of inquiry: observing what has changed, looking at other spaces in the neighbourhood
six ways of working on the esplanade
photography
Observing uses and documenting the esplanade. Short workshops right at the foot of the buildings, more settled groups working from La Boussole; film photography to build a deliberate, attentive gaze.
sound
The participants write their own questionnaires, learn to interview, then meet people of different generations: what is the esplanade for today, what do we expect of it tomorrow?
video
The interviews are listened to in order to imagine the images that might answer them. Digital and Super 8 footage: the first images of a film to be continued.
drawing
Drawing directly onto existing photographs to depict the facilities, uses and spaces that do not exist yet.
mapping the future
Individual maps first, then presentation and debate. The collective decisions lead to a shared map of the desired layouts and uses.
the exhibition
Gathering this material and turning it into public discourse, on the esplanade and at La Boussole.
the map of the future
drawing what does not exist yet
Photographs of the esplanade, redrawn by the participants. Each image comes with the text written by its author.
titles and captions by the participants, as they wrote them (in French), with a translation
In the future I would like there to be more things to do in the neighbourhood. So that when we go out with friends there is something to do other than going to the pitch. Things like swings, a little snack bar with cheap menus if we’re hungry. I would like a new youth centre suited to 10- to 15-year-olds, with what the youth centre has. I would like a place for sport, to add fountains and a little corner for older people.
I imagine that in 2026, on the Almont esplanade and at the blue playground, there would be a trampoline, a swing and thousands of games. There would also be animals, shops, a gym. Our park would be the most famous in France.
In the future I would like there to be swings, slides and trampolines like in the picture. So that it is a fun place for children and families. I would also like a sports ground to play football and basketball. We need other green spaces for picnics. We also need corners for older people, like a space for playing pétanque.
In the future I would like the neighbourhood to have lots of playgrounds for children and teenagers, a shopping centre to bring more visitors to the town, and much more safety. We could put in a fountain to represent the neighbourhood and bring some coolness in summer. We could also build a gym so that young people do sport and feel motivated.
In a year’s time I want my neighbourhood to be better. I want swings and a water park. I really want a beautiful neighbourhood, and for it to grow because it is very small, and to put in the pendulum game. I want my neighbourhood to get better in 2026.
the people who make the neighbourhood
Portraits made during the residency, and the words the participants chose to introduce them.
titles and captions by the participants, as they wrote them (in French), with a translation
Marie-Thérèse is the grandma of the neighbourhood and of the young people. She takes part in everything that happens here. She is a kind and helpful lady. She’s a grandma we all love, with her little dogs!
Mohammed is a boy from the neighbourhood. He is kind and well brought up. He loves football and he is also an artist. He acts in adverts and films. Mamoune is from the neighbourhood too. She is calm and very nice. I chose this photo because I know Mo, who is my friend’s son.
Stéphanie is a joyful girl, always there for others. She is someone who shares an enormous amount. I chose this photo because she is a great friend and we are together in the Almont Cœur association. She gave a lot to the project on the Trois Tours esplanade. We love you, stay as you are.
Yanis is kind, funny and friendly. He loves cakes and never goes out without his glasses. He’s my favourite youth worker. Come back next year!
I came with my family in 1995. It was a wonderful time, neighbours who got on very well. Families, happy people. Today everyone has drifted apart and a bitter taste has set in.
from the map to the building site
Some of the proposals that came out of the workshops were taken up in the work carried out with Au Milieu and Gygo: planters and plots, furniture, tables, signage, places to meet, new uses of the esplanade. A large mural was painted on the ground, planters were built and filled with soil, and the plantings were decided together.
The mechanism fits in one sentence: photography and sound produce a sensitive knowledge of the territory; drawing and mapping turn that knowledge into proposals; the partners translate some of those elements into installations. We move from cultural mediation to a form of artistic and territorial action research.
listen to the esplanade
The street interviews and conversations the participants held with residents about the uses of the esplanade and its possible futures.
the exhibition, on the esplanade and at la boussole
In 2025 the exhibition became a tool for territorial dialogue. The photographs, maps, testimonies and drawings publicly show what was discussed during the workshops; residents can see the proposals, discuss them, complete them or challenge them.
The posters were pasted on the esplanade and on the walls of the passageways, the portraits projected at night onto the façades, and the whole hung at La Boussole. Presenting the work in the neighbourhood lets the stories return to the people who produced them.
