The reflection on the public space’s development in the city centre of Marseille is part of the Guide Plan drawn up by the agencies MDP and Rougerie+Tangram. It proposes to extend the requalification of the maritime façade, initiated by the Vieux Port project, to the streets of the city centre to give them a unique geographical identity.
The aim of the city centre redevelopment is to improve the sharing of public space in favour of pedestrians by creating a vast, coherent, and legible space, conducive to strolling, facilitating soft travel and the use of public transport. It is based on the harmonisation of its architecture, highlighting the heritage, on a “tree archipelago” of 500 trees and the use of simple materials and street furniture.
As a preamble, the group has drawn up an Urban Quality Charter aimed at defining the principles of public spaces composition. This charter sets out the main rules for development and proposes a design and programming method that can be reproduced and adopted by the various players in this transformation.
The operational perimeter of this project covers 23 sectors and 72 hectares of public spaces, with the aim of pedestrianizing 22 hectares. The main development principles for the 23 sectors were defined by the MDP agency, with Rougerie+Tangram then responsible for the design of the sectors located south of the Canebière (including the Canebière) and for monitoring the execution of the works for the entire perimeter.