Island in the middle of the concrete, a children’s playground Porte d’Aix in Marseille
After two years of work, this ten-year-old project just opened this week. 350,000 euros of investment. This children’s park is a block in a poor neighborhood marked by permanent building sites and drug deals. Five playgrounds for kids, slides, pirate ships, rocking horses… enough to offer activities for Marseille children this summer. Pierre savors with his little Célestine whom he has just picked up at the crèche: “The games are very nice. We had nothing in the neighborhood before. No games. No greenery. It’s a place where we can go”. Translation by Célestine and her friend Louise: “The slide is so cool. I want to come back to the park”.
Bringing nature back to the people of Marseille
Nassera Benmarnia lived in the Porte d’Aix district. She is the deputy in charge of green spaces at the town hall of Marseille: “We return nature to the Marseillais, we develop it, we maintain it. It is an island of freshness in the middle of the concrete, of all these constructions that the previous term of office has started”. Patricia would like this oasis of calm to be protected. She has a doubt: “Even before the opening, people were throwing garbage over the barriers. There are garbage cans, but the garbage is next to the garbage cans. We are in a neighborhood where people don’t care”.
The chosen one does not want to hear these fears: “You have a negative image of Marseille and the positive energy that we use to serve the inhabitants. I am of an optimistic nature. Everything is done to meet this challenge”. The town hall promises permanent guarding, municipal police patrols and the secret hope that living together ends up triumphing
A park for the summer?
In the wake of the sardine which blocks the port of Marseille, a pirate ship has therefore run aground at the Porte d’Aix. Let’s recognize that there are not yet many people boarding in this brand new playground. As Rashid says, “It’s calm. There’s hardly anyone!” The limp teenager comes to digest his burger on a swing. Indeed, in the morning, not many people.
Thomas, an educator in the area, has his own idea about the park’s very timid start. “It’s impassable! The slides are in full sun. There are no water games. It’s the kind of park you can just go to in winter! I don’t understand! Well, unless you like toboggan that you baked at 85 degrees”. A single fountain visible, the pines do not become parasols, the grass is crimson, and from 11 a.m., the games are cooking. You had to come very early, in the cool, like Celestine and Louise. They are delighted, the two neighborhood friends.
- Go early in the morning or at the end of the day: the park is open in the summer from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.