This case study was originally published in French. Click here to access the original link.
Why the project CESAme?
Cesa, the name of the company that used to be based there, specialising in the design and manufacture of high-end kitchens. Its closure in 2009 led to the redundancy of 76 employees. CESAme is the name of the programme that aims to make this wasteland a place of emergence for creative industries. The name CESAme, which stands for "Citizenship" - "Economy" - "Social / Solidarity" - "Arts" - "Marmande" - "Ecosystem", sums up the stated ambition, which is to bring together in a single place various dynamics that will enable the city of Marmande to shine on clearly identified identity themes. For Ouishare, participating in the installation of this project is in line with the Sharitories study conducted in 2017. This study aims to define courses of action in order to put collaborative practices at the service of the revitalisation of medium-sized towns. CESAme provides us with the opportunity to test our recommendations and to move on to implementation.
Workshop 1
The approach: or how prefiguration work is used to create the foundations of a community
To carry out this project, we proceeded in three stages:
1. a diagnosis of the project and the territory consisting of 24 interviews. On the one hand, we interviewed the various departments of the town hall, representatives of the Val de Garonne agglomeration and, on the other, leaders of local associations. This collection of data enabled us to draw up a SWOT matrix (Strengths / Weaknesses / Opportunities / Threats), which served as the basis for the project.
2. the design and facilitation of collective intelligence workshops to get the users of the site, the elected officials and the city's technicians to work first separately and then together, and to lay the foundations of the CESAme community.
3. drafting recommendations. To do this, we wanted to enrich our field observation with the opinions of architects, designers and urban planners. We therefore consulted eight experts, including Patrick Bouchain, architect and initiator of numerous third places, Juliette Bompoint, director of the cultural centre Mains d'oeuvres in Saint-Ouen, Emile Hooge, associate director of Nova 7 and Lisadie Dutillieux, urban planner and architect. We interviewed them on subjects such as the economic models of third places, governance and architectural permanence. This allowed us to quickly identify the pitfalls to be avoided and the avenues to be explored.
Several skills were called upon in order to carry out these missions. First of all, our ability to design and run workshops that encourage everyone to participate. During these five months, nearly a hundred people took an active and enthusiastic part in our cycle of five workshops. Thanks to this preparatory work, these people have started to build relationships, to see projects and to develop a sense of belonging to the project.
What we learnt
The time of prefiguration is also a time of construction: these 5 months made it possible, on the one hand, to create strong links between the various stakeholders and to open up the place to its first occupants, even if this was only temporary. Indeed, the collective workshops that we organized took place in the abandoned factory. This allowed a first appropriation of the place and to make it reappear in the local landscape. As a result, local associations organized activities, filming... For example, the Compagnons Batisseurs organized a workshop to refurbish the showroom of the place with young people from the neighbourhood. The ChoréA dance school shot a music video there. And a participatory fresco was initiated by the artist Mickaelle Delamé.
The time of prefiguration is also a time of construction.
Collaborative fresco on the walls of the building
Everything can and should be questioned, including the allocation of budgets. Inspired by our discussions with Patrick Bouchain, we have positioned ourselves so that the planned development and maintenance budgets are dedicated to the occupation and activation of the place. Why? Because it is useless, even counterproductive, to undertake development and safety work on the site before having identified its potential uses. Public commissioning de facto limits the future capacity to envisage new unexpected uses. Moreover, it is often restrictive, with procedures preventing collaboration with certain actors who are nonetheless relevant to the project (e.g. reintegration association).
Everything can and should be questioned, including the allocation of budgets.
The risk with an emerging project is to operate with a team that is not sufficiently structured to carry the project. Defining a priori governance and clarifying the responsibilities of the core team is an essential structuring step in order to facilitate day-to-day arbitrations. Also, in order to ensure the smooth running of the project, we recommended the establishment of an organisation chart and the resizing of the core team.
Defining a governance, a priori, and clarifying the responsibilities of the core team is an essential structuring step.
Waiting for the next step
At the time of the Action Coeur de Ville plan, Marmande seems to have found a new heart in the city. Several workshops have already been announced and will punctuate the coming months until the reopening: manufacture of furniture, personalization of interior walls... The place will also host meetings and assemblies. This first stage will have borne fruit by making this space a place of rallying, meeting and creation.
This project was produced by Samuel Roumeau (samuel@ouishare.net), Yann Bergamaschi (yann@ouishare.net) and Clothilde Sauvages (clothilde@ouishare.net)
Cover photo credits: Samuel Zeller