This blog show my first experience in a community, where I made design to find solutions to improve relationship between people. This communitiy is located to Trenelle, a small suburban neighbourhood of Fort-de-France in Martinique Island.

Martinique like many Caribbean islands, has a complex and unique history. It was inhabited by Amerindians  before the arrival of Columbs. Trenelle's history has its roots in slavery. The inhabitants this neighbourhood are the descendants of sugar cane plantation slaves, who moved from countryside to the city of Fort-de-France. Aimé Cesaire, the mayor of the town at the time gave them a land to occupt

The neighborhood  invented their own way of living.  They built their own homes, and a network of stairs for access. Nowadays, people livind in Trenelle live in poverty and densy populated conditions, nevertheless these people are proud of what they do, of who they are. 

At the moment the social sector helps people living in Trenelle and launch social projects to create social mobility and improve the physical environment in Trenelle.

This is a challenge. Trenelle is surrounded by a military base, a motorway, a river, and 40% of people are unemployed. 

The arrival of television, cars and technology had a strong impact on the neighborhood and broke down 
the solidarity and sense community within the neighborhood..

ZarafaFilms. RFO Production.

ZarafaFilms. RFO Production.

ZarafaFilms. RFO Production.

I wanted to introduce gardening structure to preserve and nurture the social bond in Trenelle.

To focus the project on the garden

Before decamping to Trenelle they slaves in plantation houses, owned by colons. They worked in the cane fields, they have a history of farming and tending their own crops to survive and feed themselves.
The first inhabitants of Trenelle lived in slums and gardened to survive. Before they arrive there, they lived in houses belonging to owner of the sugar factories. Their parents when they were slaves and worked  too in the sugar factories farmed the land for living.
As Gardening was a way to survive in slavery and working times until crisis of sugar factory in sixties, today for inhabitants of Trenelle, gardening is way to root in this world. Here, having a garden is also necessary as having a roof.
So the garden is a really strong social, political and cultural purpose for these inhabitants.


That's why I decided to focus my project on the garden.

The ladder

Like I said, in this neighbourhood, free space between houses is very limited, sometimes, it's disappeared. So actually people have less and less space to garden. And in the same time, 40% of the inhabitants are unemployed. That's why I think, it can be interesting to propose a structure to increase way of gardening.

So, in the first time, I decide to propose a ladder to grow vegetables to an inhabitant. This one is made with materials that people can find not far away from the place they live.
Bamboo comes from the bottom of the neighbourhood near the river.
Plywood comes from materials that people keep when people built their house.
Bags are recyclables bags that people keep from supermarket or they make with fabrics.

In that way I propose a plan proportions so that inhabitants make their own ladder.
 

Back from ENSCI les Ateliers, I ask to four students make a ladder from this plan, using materials they want.

A "cueille fruit"

A "cueille fruit" is an object that pick fruit in the tree. This device is also created following an observation of practice in the area. Despite the high density in Trenelle, there are still many fruit trees. They serve food, but also marks the demarcation of plots of the inhabitants. 

These trees often have an owner, but sometimes they do not belong to anyone and they are found in the common area, caught between the private spaces.
Widely used in the campaign, it has a private use. I redesigned this object and a scenario from the perspective of collective use.
Scenario:
Together, the garden association, a municipal elected, inhabitants jointly choose the trees in the common area which shall be deposited the "fruit picked". They are available to people living near the tree. After use, it is placed in its original location.

Production process is also explained and described to members of the garden association.

With one stalk of bamboo you can obtain a "cueille fruit".

 

soil and coconut roll

My third device is installed in places surrounded by houses. 

Workers from local authorities at the request of the residents install a sheet of fabric made of coconut.

 They also bring soil…

After that residents grow vegetables in it .

Here the containing in public and the content is private.

Thus, my devices are aimed at the population with 3 levels:
directly with inhabitants 
by the association of the neighbourhood, 
by the intervention of local authorities.

It depends on the complexity of the project.