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Arts, culture and neoliberalism: instrumentalization and resistances through the case of Marseille

Abstract

International audience Since the end of the nineties, arts, culture and creativity, in general, have been used by a growing number of city decision-makers or urban planners in order to rehabilitate some neighbourhoods. At the dawn of the 21st century, several searchers have demonstrated how the arts and cultural fields - as well as the attraction of the most creative people - were important to induce a local development within urban spaces. If numerous academical works have criticised these intellectual positions, it is obvious today that creativity in all its forms (arts and all kinds of cultural fields) plays a crucial role in urban spaces metamorphosis. However, transforming the urban spaces throughout arts and culture can be a limited strategy. Indeed, as far as cultural or artistic amenities are emerging within public spaces, we also notice a growing accentuation of spatial injustices resulting from two main territorial processes known as urban neoliberalism and gentrification.Concerning this idea, the case of Marseille is interesting in many ways. Indeed, urban neoliberalism started in the early nineties when the French State launched a wide urban program called Euroméditerranée. The main aim of such a project was to reorganize the old waterfront by creating a brand-new economic centre such as La Défense in Paris or London’s City. Today and since 2013 with the organization of the European Capital of Culture (called Marseille-Provence 2013 or MP 2013), this ambition is still significant in Marseille. Indeed, the second French city in terms of inhabitants has radically evolved and the connexions between arts, culture and neoliberalism are more and more visible, to such an extent that creativity could be considered as a symptom of neoliberal urban planning. More precisely, two tendencies exist in Marseille. Firstly, the reinforcement of gentrification and urban neoliberalism by mobilizing arts and culture. Secondly, the growing emergence of resistance movements that are opposed to urban neoliberalism and all capitalism’s drifts.In order to analyse the use of arts and culture in both tendencies, our paper will focus on four distinctive neighbourhoods located close to Marseille’s city-core. Therefore, the first two neighbourhoods that we choose are La Joliette (2nd district) and Le Vieux-Port (1st district) which are both known as places where arts and culture have been used to quickly transform some city landscapes or functions. On the other hand, some neighbourhoods in Marseille’s city core are pieces of evidence that firmly translate the opposition to gentrification or urban neoliberalism thanks to arts and culture. Two other examples are useful to illustrate this point. Firstly, the case of Le Panier (1st district) which is the oldest neighbourhood in Marseille and where several street artists struggle - through graffiti and all kinds of street arts – against gentrification, uberisation (through the increasing number of Airbnb housings for instance) or the “moving upmarket” tendency. Secondly, the case of La Plaine (5th district) is currently concerned with a big urban redevelopment project which is – sometimes violently – rejected by users and shopkeepers. Facing all these findings and in order to contribute to the Rebel Streets conference, our ambition through this paper is triple. First, we want to show how, in Marseille and more particularly within La Joliette and Le Vieux-Port, the aesthetic dimension of art, culture & creativity has radically redefined city core landscapes, functions and population. Then, with our second part, we want to explain how and why these urban policies have increased neoliberalism. This point will allow us to finally analyse in a third part, the resistance movements which are mainly based on arts (graffiti, stickers, hip-hop music, alternative movies…) and which are – sometimes violently – opposed to gentrification and neoliberalism.

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