The “petit paris” in the “grand paris”: the in-between new possibilities along the Seine"

The suburban European landscape is made up of unlinked entities, full or empty, fragmentary, distant one from another and often in opposition. This territorial fragmentation is reinforced by infrastructures (roads, highways and trains, vast industrial and commercial zones), which instead of linking these entities, separate them and thus contribute to the proliferation of in-between spaces without status but not without purposes and practices. Starting from this ascertainment, my communication wishes to contribute to the understanding of these spaces, which suffer from a poor recognition despite their high potential in terms for urban requalification and development. This better understanding starts by admitting the “condition” of these spaces, which are heterogeneous and disqualified in terms of their geography, history, practices and policies. Interestingly, the transformation of these in-between spaces also mobilise the category of the “intermediate” at different scales, physical, temporal, social and economical, led by different actors, interests, perspectives and expectations. My communication will reflect on the declinations of the “intermediate” as a category of description and action on/of in-between spaces. The paper would focus on the complex relationship between city-wide scale projects (long-term) and the small actions and transformation on a smaller scale in the in-between territories (short-term). The paper is going to focus on some of these "in-between" spaces, as part of the Grand Paris projects. It will consider both the top-down proposed projects and the bottom-up initiatives that encourage (or discourage) those projects. As a case-study, the projects for the Seine' s regeneration through Le Havre and Northern Europe will be analysed. The Seine will be analysed as a big geographical element, crossing different places and landscapes. Within the Grand Paris framework, some proposals look at the Seine and its water system as a starting point to open up to new perspectives for Paris and its surroundings. From Paris, following the west path of the river, you cross several in-between landscapes; urbanised territories, neglected areas, city fringe areas. Although close to the city centre, they are completely outside of any urban dynamic. Despite the different approaches they use, these proposals all focus on the river Seine as a potential to build a different relationship between Paris city centre and its surroundings: the Parisian Region, the Ile de France, Normandy. The Grand Paris projects work on territorial levels and on long distances, sometimes with few chances to be build. What are the new perspectives able to unlock opportunities for the in-between spaces? What are the small transformations able yo generate unexpected opportunities? Which spaces and times in-between the big projects? What are the small transformations of the Petit Paris within the Grand Paris framework?