The adventure will have lasted ten years… On June 10, the Hanging Gardens of Vincennes celebrated their tenth anniversary on the roof garden of the Center Pompidou. A celebration with a bitter taste no doubt since this could be their last.
Created in 2013 by the Vincennois, Franck-Olivier Torro, this association took over the slab that constitutes the roof of the cultural and sports center of the city of Val-de-Marne with the aim of turning it into an urban vegetable garden. The bet won since ten years later, 2,000 m2 of urban agriculture form a space of greenery and freshness in the heart of the city. But the project to rebuild the Pompidou Center caused the expulsion by the Town Hall of the association and the destruction of part of its work.
An old “deal point”
“For a long time, this space wedged between three sections of U-shaped buildings was open to all winds. To the point of having been invaded by bands which caused nuisance all night long and which transformed it into a “deal point”, explains a spokesperson for the Collectif Pompidou, the arrival of this association has appeased the things and improved the view and the living environment. »
“The founder of the Hanging Gardens had signed an agreement with the mayor at the time, Laurent Lafon, to transform this place into vegetable plots on the principles of permaculture”, explains Sandy Constant, co-president of the association since 2022. A concept which germinated for years, to the point of becoming a real center of agricultural culture with just over 80 plots and nearly 200 member families. “There are two per plot so that they are properly maintained throughout the year. adds Sonia Mare-Housssier, the second co-president.
A success that has given wings to the volunteers to the point of developing in many ways: the association has five composting sites that recycle more than 40 tonnes of waste per year, chicken coops, offers training courses validated by Syctom, educational workshops and supports schools, colleges and high schools in the development of vegetable gardens or plant courses. “We even have cats that people come to abandon on the spot… We are therefore also, by force of circumstance, a feeding site. »
The gardens forced to move by the renovation of the sports and cultural center
But this example of social connection will disappear at the end of the month. “The Town Hall asked us to leave,” laments Sandy Constant. A surprise for the co-presidents, according to whom the renovation project originally was not supposed to concern the Pompidou slab: “We knew that there was a project to repair the roof. But originally, it was only to concern infiltrations and the gardens were not called into question. »
Then, as the discussions with the town hall progressed, the latter would have gradually unveiled a much more ambitious project: Completely renovating the Cultural and Sports Center to make it one of the most important in the region. The roof should be raised by about twenty meters and will be refurbished “in the form a vast public garden gently sloping and equipped with solar panels. Exit the Hanging Gardens.
A terrible shock behind the heads of the members of the association, but also for the local residents, as the spokesperson for the Pompidou Residents’ Collective explains: “A place with greenery, calm, when we are in the city center of Vincennes, a dense and noisy city… The center will be raised by almost 4 floors, it is a disaster in terms of brightness and heat for the inhabitants of the blocks of buildings. »
The Mayor of Vincennes pleads the absolute necessity
Joined by 20 minutes, the Mayor of Vincennes, Charlotte Libert-Albanel, does not budge and confirms her project: “We had a real need to renovate the center in depth. On the sports side, under the gardens, the infiltrations force us to take over the entire roof, otherwise this room, the largest in Vincennes, which hosts associations and school activities, was condemned. “Same thing on the side of the theater which dates from 1975 and which shows” signs of weakness “.
Arguments that do not convince the association and the group of local residents who complain of having been led astray, as Sonia Mare-Housssier explains: “At the first meetings, the Gardens were not called into question, then small little by little, we realized that we were disturbing. Until the public meeting of July 6, 2022, where the Town Hall presented us as having monopolized a public space… While it is a place open to all and an agreement was signed. »
To support their position, the presidents of the association claim to have discovered, with supporting documents, that the Town Hall has applied for an exemption from environmental assessment for its project: “This prevents them from carrying out operations to safeguard species present on the premises such as birds or bats. »
The Town Hall offers several small plots in compensation
Statements, partly denied by Charlotte Libert-Albanel: “The presidents of the association were perfectly aware that it could stop. And that day has come. This is an opportunity to get out of this privatization. I also invite them to come and see the conditions of practice of our athletes, and why they lose matches on the green carpet because the ground is soaked and we have to put basins everywhere on the ground. »
But the Mayor of Vincennes also refutes the manipulation of which she is accused: “They omit to say that we worked together with them, by organizing about fifteen meetings on the move and the way things were going to happen. To prove her good faith, the Mayor also claims to have offered 200 m2 for educational purposes in the future replacement garden and a few other places in the city: “We bought five plots for six million euros so that a few members could take over land. The effort is substantial. Solid lands, more pleasant whereas currently, they make agriculture in pots. »
“We were offered 100 m2, answers Sonia Mare-Housssier, confetti style. A little here, a little there, enough to annihilate all overall management and the spirit of the Gardens. Moreover, they are in open public spaces that cannot be sealed off. The slightest walker will help himself in the plans! »
“Much of our work is lost”
If the future of the Hanging Gardens remains uncertain, their relocation has already been recorded since many plants have been uprooted in the hope of being saved, and to be relocated with members, friends and other volunteers while waiting to find a new haven. to push: “But a large part of our work is lost”, regrets Sandy Constant.
The Pompidou Vincennes Collective has launched a petition to ask to reopen the discussions on the project and the preservation of Hanging Gardens. Among the 326 signatories (as of June 16), Nathalie*, a teacher at a school that had benefited from the Hanging Gardens workshops, already regrets these missing projects: “We had worked on seasonality and plantations with the students, how to maintain, weed, s take care of a garden. Our courtyard has been transformed on the principle of allotment gardens. It’s not the same to do it on the spot or to do it in class. The speakers played their educational role. It’s a shame, especially in this period of global warming, not to be able to continue. »