Our job shadowing took place on 24-25 February in Toulouse. Except for our team from Zagreb (Novela Rimay Ferenčak, Bojan Linardić & Tomislav Dumančić), there were also colleagues from Birmingham. During two days we had an excellent insight experience learning about Toulouse projects and familiarising with the work of our Toulouse colleagues.
As I am an architect and also working in the department for strategic city projects I had a great experience in Toulouse where we have seen all phases of city projects from those that are concepts, through those that are being under construction to those that are built and in function. As always, the visit was too short to be able to find out and see everything, but thanks to the efforts and excellent organization of our hosts (Estelle Poirier & Audeline Rauna) we were able to get information, see and most importantly feel the dynamic work of our colleagues.
The first day started at the Toulouse Metropole office were we get to know basic information about planning operations department, the role of the project manager followed by two presentations – the first about, according to our team, a very interesting Urban project of the city (Le projet urbain Toulousain) were six teams of urban planners in the short, medium and long term reflect and imagine the urban ideas of the six different parts of the city and the second, about the strategy supporting the retails in the central part of the city.
In the afternoon we visited the JOB cluster - a place with a diversity of practices and cultures which was a former tobacco paper factory transformed to a multi-purpose building in which are located music school, swimming pool, theatre hall, meeting rooms, activity rooms… It was very inspiring and interesting because a comparison may be drawn with our Block Badel project where an old industrial building is planned as a social and cultural centre with a similar intended purpose.
Later, we visited a project under construction – La Cartoucherie project. It is a 33 hectares eco neighbourhood project which will include a large number of dwellings with public facilities, offices, higher education facilities, shops… Here we get to see an implementation of an Oppidea project. Oppidea is a public-private commercial company (fr. SEM - société d'économie mixte) conducting Toulouse urban projects such as La Cartoucherie project and many others. It is a good combination of fulfilling public and private interest through large scale projects respecting high professional standards.
The second day our teams were split into two groups. One group visited Oppidea and get to know their work, and the other group literally experienced working on a small scale project which will later be subject of negotiation with the private developer, representative of Toulouse Metropole, and the project manager. It was very amusing to see how our colleagues are experiencing the same problems as we are in Zagreb. I'm referring here to developing a spirit of compromise with the private developer.
Joining together with the first group we were again at the Cartoucherie but this time for a specific reason – meeting with the private developer about great „Third place“. Third place represents a public space that hosts several types of people gatherings for relaxing, „hanging out“ or similar informal meetings. In particular, we visited Les Halles de la Cartoucherie which will offer a multi-activity space for local restaurants, co-working, sports, auditorium, cinema… In my opinion, this was the highlight of our visit – contemporary concept, great architecture and an altruistic private developer.
After an impressive visit, we got back to the office to hear about one more contemporary project - Dessine-moi Toulouse/Paléficat-Agriville. The innovative approach by mobilizing in particularly innovative companies and young talents to bring out new ideas for a Paléficat district as the neighbourhood surrounding a park with a castle with agricultural activities as a fundamental part of the self-sustaining system.
Our job shadowing ended wit the last visit at the Guillaumet site, a large scale city project under construction which is transforming from a military and research use, into housing, shopping, work, leisure and sports activities. For this project, we got a roadmap which outlines all taken steps for the preparation. It was interesting to see the long period of negotiation with private developers as potential future partners which gives us an insight into the complexity of the task.
Trip to Toulouse was at the end of the February when we were not aware of what awaits us in the future months, especially as Zagreb had the additional misfortune that in addition to the pandemic, it was hit by a severe earthquake. Over the past few months, I was thinking back about our job shadowing in Toulouse and thought about the similarities of the jobs that our colleagues from Toulouse and we do. I was impressed by the pragmatic approach to the work despite the problems and difficulties we have in common, especially the triangle – politicians/investors/city representatives, which ultimately gives a result that is not perfect, but despite the problems aside, contribute to the development of their city in all aspects. As an example, I would single out the Borderouge project, a demanding project situated within the existing urban structure of the city, filling gaps and changing existing elements to create a new subcenter of the city with all necessary facilities. The beginning of the project was not easy at all, but the results are excellent.
Despite differences between our cities, I found out that we have more in common than I thought and in the difficult period ahead will surely remember positive approach and persistence of Toulouse and keep in mind that hard times create strong men.