This graduation project finds its origins in my fascination for cities and its atmospheres, which are endangered by the process called gentrification. Gentrification is the effect in which urban areas are renovated and upgraded causing for lower-income classes to be abandoned towards the outer city. Living in the inner city becomes only affordable for higher income classes who have all the same needs for their living environment causing for the cities to change to these needs and loose their authentic spirit.
Dealing with gentrification is difficult since it’s a process that slowly starts without noticing and ones its there there’s no way back. Therefore for my graduation project I developed a new strategy on how to deal with gentrification. I experimented with this new strategy using architectural design as a tool.
Since the overpopulated inner city of Paris is rapidly changing due to gentrification I focused myself on this location and in particular on the street Rue du Faubourg du Temple. For my strategy it’s important to be ahead of the gentrification process and while visiting Paris I found out that this street still possesses its authentic character.
I immersed into Rue du Faubourg du Temple and used all my observations to create a design that is enhancing and exaggerating the important qualities of the identity of the street, hoping these will resist gentrification in future.