A fervent left-wing activist, a figure in the protests of May 68 but above all an architect, Roland Castro died Thursday at the age of 82. He devoted his entire life to wanting to “reshape” the estates of the big cities, working-class neighborhoods invaded by large concrete complexes that he hated, to rediscover “the pleasure of living”. Co-founder of the “Banlieues 89” collective, this short man, with laughing green eyes, known for his rants, made himself known by associating his vision of housing with a political fight. He considered that buildings were “successful when they send back to the inhabitant a good image of himself”
We owe him the renovation of the Cité de la Caravelle in Villeneuve-la-Garenne and the cities of Hauts-de-Seine. In addition to housing, Roland Castro also signed the City of the comic strip in Angoulême or the Labor Exchange of the city of Saint-Denis. Opposed to the functionalism of his predecessor Le Corbusier, an apostle of social ties through places of residence, he campaigned against “urban apartheid” and wanted to “convince that the suburbs are not catchalls for those excluded from society”. . Roland Castro’s buildings often appeared as grafts to existing constructions. He added asymmetrical lines, combining wood with concrete, and favoring white, adorned with plant facades.
“Making a revolution in the suburbs”
Born October 16, 1940 in Limoges to Jewish parents, he spent his early years in hiding. A refugee with his parents and his sister in the Limousin hinterland, in Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, he is hidden in one of the first maquis of the Resistance, led by communists. These four years will mark the decades of commitment of the architect, who considered having to discharge “a debt of existence towards France”. “The architecture, the suburbs, the causes have never been lacking: everything has been a pretext to settle this debt”, he said in his gravelly voice.
He entered the Beaux-Arts de Paris in 1958, carrying suitcases for the Algerian FLN, before joining the Union of Communist Students, from which he was expelled in 1965 for having criticized the Stalinist line. He ends up embracing Maoism and the revolutionary struggle, a banner under which he will militate in May 68, of which he becomes one of the figures.
It was in 1983 that he managed to give a political dimension to his urban planning ideals by co-founding “Banlieues 89” with his urban planner friend Michel Cantal-Dupart. Their mantra: “make the revolution in the suburbs”, by bringing together mayors and architects around projects that must give a new face to faded buildings and deteriorating living conditions.
The initiative dates back to François Mitterrand, who, at the invitation of Roland Castro, visited the “Cité des 4000” in La Courneuve. Aware of the “oppression” in which his residents live, the president entrusts an interministerial mission to the architect. More than 200 projects are submitted to “Banlieues 89”. But the operation is confronted with the financial reluctance of the government and the collective disappears in 1991.
La Courneuve’s “Central Park” will not see the light of day
A colorful character, who willingly displayed himself in a striped suit, he frequented Jean-Paul Sartre, Jacques Lacan (with whom he followed a psychoanalysis for 7 years), met Fidel Castro (no family ties) and Che Guevara during a trip to Cuba in 1961.
Sometimes Mitterrandien, sometimes supporter of the PCF and Robert Hue, Roland Castro had created his own party, the “Movement for Concrete Utopia”. Label under which he launched himself in the presidential election of 2007 but without collecting the necessary sponsorships. During the 2017 presidential campaign, he supported Emmanuel Macron’s candidacy and even beat the pavement in La Courneuve to try to convince residents of the estates to vote for his favorite.
After the election, the Head of State had entrusted him with a report on Greater Paris, submitted in 2018, but which had remained a dead letter. In particular, he defended a dream project of 30 years: the “Central Park” of La Courneuve. Author of several books, including an autobiography The Dream Factory (2010), Roland Castro was the father of 5 children from several marriages.