Jackhammers, cranes, trucks in action: the rue des Marjoberts worksite, led by Nexity on the former site of the 3M tower in Cergy, is nearing completion. A good part of the buildings have been completed and nearly two thirds of the expected residents are already occupying the premises. Like Philippe and Maureen Vergat, fifty-year-old owners of a duplex since 2021. “We are happy to have left our village of Vexin to enjoy a richer social life for our son Patrick, a high school student. It’s quite cosmopolitan and has a good atmosphere”ensures the first.
Both work in a delivery company, with colleagues from various backgrounds, and are used to this cultural mosaic that was not hidden from them before they signed for their apartment. They are neighbors of the new Domitys senior residence, the relay house for the precarious public managed by the association Esperer 95, the student residence and future social housing. All levels of the age pyramid and a wide social panel are thus represented, like the promoter’s slogan: “Life Together”. For real ?
The dual objective of social and intergenerational diversity is well displayed on rue des Marjoberts, where owners buying up to 5,000 euros per square meter will rub shoulders with tenants benefiting from very low rent, at 6 euros per square meter per month. This imperative is fully shared by the town hall: “This program takes into account the errors of the past, when certain blocks included 85% social housing. At Marjoberts, this proportion will be a maximum of 25%”explains the mayor of Cergy, Jean-Paul Jeandon.
“And even in buildings specially dedicated to social housing, the different types of more or less low rents will introduce diversity, as will the areas of variable size making it possible to mix family compositions”, adds Stéphane Dauphin, CEO of Seqens, social landlord. The aim is also to give a real place to seniors in this still very young city, where 50% of the population is under 30 years old.
Architectural unit
We are a stone’s throw from the Cergy-Préfecture RER and the Trois-Fontaines shopping center, mentioned by Annie Ernaux in her diary Look at the lights my love (Threshold, 2014). The Cergyssoise author, who won a recent Nobel Prize, describes the unattractive and highly guarded discount shelves of the hypermarket, which contrast with the well-arranged aisles for selective products, reserved for a more affluent clientele. Will we be able to break these borders, rue des Marjoberts? Unlike in-store shelves, “the buildings intended for owners, tenants with intermediate or more moderate rent, residents of the senior establishment or the boarding house, are indistinguishable”, assures Patrice Roques, managing director of social housing and managed residences at Nexity. Externally, architectural unity is essential. But humanly… We will not meet on the same landing, to each his own stairwell.
Philippe and Maureen Vergat have also vaguely spotted the relay house, at the end of the street. They have not yet exchanged with the recent occupants, such as Mireille Bidjo, 50, with a disability. “I appreciate the interbreeding between very different people, with a health problem like me or coming from the street”, said the latter. Eric Candini, housed in the same structure, loves the moments of conviviality and the comfort of his studio after having wandered from home to home.
With the other occupants, Mireille Bidjo and Eric Candini do not live cut off from the rest of the block. Already, events have been organized by the Linandes neighborhood center within Domitys, with the tenants of the relay house and the children of the area. “We made cakes and told stories, it was a great moment”recalls Michelle Loison, 74, who has just moved in with her husband in the senior residence which she appreciates both the safety and the openness. “About fifty activities are offered each month, in which people from outside participate, it’s very lively, she adds. All religions are even represented. » She likes the swimming pool and the massage room just at the foot of her elevator, the interior garden which the inhabitants of the adjoining building also walk along.
“Pepper and Salt Habitat”
Issa Guaye, 38, a specialized educator and tenant just opposite, goes there to bring his daughter to school. “I have always lived in Cergy and I have never seen so many elderly people who are well integrated into a neighborhood”, he acknowledges. He came to settle here with his wife Anne-Louise Cambier, founder of the ALBA associative program ofempowerment young girls, for whom multifaceted diversity is obvious: “It’s not even a subject, everyone talks with everyone. » She wanted to live in new, but not partitioned.
“The organization in separate buildings to accommodate the different audiences, which defines a segmented mix, could be the lesser evil”analyzes the sociologist in charge of research at the National Institute for Demographic Studies, Joanie Cayouette-Remblière, author of the article “Social relations in planned social mix neighborhoods” (Sociology, 2020). “Because the principle of ‘pepper and salt’ habitat, by ‘sprinkling’, where owners and occupants of social housing cohabit in the same stairwell, often generates more conflicts of use and financial”she notes. “It remains to fight against the temptation of socializing by sharing common spaces and services, such as school”, she adds. That of the Marjoberts will open in 2025, it is a little late according to the sociologist, observing that such a gap pushes certain families to choose the private sector.
In the meantime, Thibaut Lebacq, from the relay house, has his idea for forging links. This Belgian literature graduate, happy to settle down and regain the dignity of paying rent like everyone else, dreams of knocking on the door of the neighboring student residence to offer his services as a teacher. “I also imagine a nice neighbours’ party and why not a ‘Marjo’ festival? », he adds. The site of the mix is open.
This article was produced prior to the conference “The World Cities” “City of care, city of links? », organized on November 17 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. by The worldwith the support of Agefiph, Toyota and Transdev. Free access on registration from this link.