“We have been working intensely for two years to regularize the occupation of Darwin on the site of the concerted development zone (ZAC) Bastide Niel, with the services of the city, the Metropolis and Darwin, proudly explained this Tuesday Pierre Hurmic, the mayor (EELV) of Bordeaux. The deliberation will put an end to a conflict that has existed for six years”. Voted on Tuesday, it buries the hatchet between the developer of the ZAC, Bordeaux Métropole Aménagement (BMA) and Darwin ecosystem.
Since 2009, Darwin has settled in the former Caserne Niel on the right bank of Bordeaux and has gradually developed what its creators call an “ecosystem”: alternative shops, urban farms, solidarity accommodation, coworking, cultural and social events. favor of the climate. Philippe Barre, one of the founders, highlights “1,800 direct jobs in Darwin, more than 200 companies, around fifty associations which make it the beating heart of the ZAC”.
The city and Darwin united in a cooperative society
By the time construction work on the ZAC began, Darwin had obtained temporary occupancy permits for these hangars, which now house a skate park with around 5,500 members and the bric-a-brac of Emmaüs Gironde. Darwin has been asking for six years that these activities be integrated into the ZAC and that the developer renounce the construction of social housing there. The city is pleased that it is rather a rehabilitation project than a demolition project that is emerging at this strategic location on the banks of the Garonne.
Darwin and the city have together created a cooperative society of collective interest (SCIC), for the management of two hangars with the aim of acquiring the land from BMA. The transaction of an amount of 2.1 million would be half assumed by the city of Bordeaux, and for the other by Darwin. The social housing initially planned has been distributed to other sites in the ZAC.
“A day in January 2017 comes back to me when the associations began to mobilize and which have since come together, to have the value of collective interest of associative activities recognized, commented Nathalie Bois, president of “La 58e”, federation Darwinian associations. We moved lines that we were told were impossible to move. »
Other activities to perpetuate on the site
While the ecosystem owns about three hectares, its operations span five. Convinced of having demonstrated by facts the social and ecological usefulness of his activities and the influence generated for the city of Bordeaux, Darwin would like this to be a first step towards more regularisations. For the moment, on the sectors occupied but not belonging to the ecosystem, there is a temporary regularization during the discussions.
The rest could be more difficult because the local authorities no longer have a hand in it, but Darwin would like to offer a mixed program to the promoters while the construction of the ZAC is taking longer than expected. The regularization of the first two associative hangars is in any case a strong signal which shows that Darwin and the city agree on the same vision of town planning.