The Marseillais barricade themselves. In the city, almost a third of housing is now in gated communities. Also known as “gated communities”, these fenced spaces, sometimes permeable to the passage of pedestrians, sometimes completely sealed, divide the urban fabric of Marseille. So much so that some city children, for example, have to slalom between these closed spaces and take up to 20 minutes longer to get to school every morning. The problem is the same for access to certain public services or public transport.
The phenomenon is not new but has been increasing since the end of the 1990s. Today, it is no longer limited to the middle-class neighborhoods in the south of the city: it is also found in the east of Marseille. where the middle classes live, just like in the middle of the cities, in the northern districts.
Geography doctor Julien Dario is one of the rare researchers working on the issue. He explains to us the historical origins and the responsibility of the municipality in the development of these fences which threaten to accentuate the social fragmentation of Marseille.
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