Created following the establishment of heavy industry along the coast of the North Sea, the city of Grande-Synthe has never stopped reinventing itself, experimenting with successive models of town planning and architecture.
Social diversity, urban renewal, eco-districts, and the risks that come with economic activity are all challenges for those who manage, make decisions for, invent and plan today's cities.
When residents speak up they punctuate the ideas of the technicians and decision-makers, and the reality of their daily existence is juxtaposed with dreams of the ideal city.