Urban regeneration - plan d’Aou-marseille

North of Marseille, on the Saint-Antoine plateau, the Plan d’Aou district occupies a balcony position overlooking the northern harbour and the industrial port. This exposed territory, subject to strong climatic conditions and heavily transformed soils, is undergoing a major urban renewal process. Wagon Landscaping is responsible for the design and supervision of planting within the public spaces, through a landscape approach closely aligned with the site’s constraints.

The strategy is based on a precise reading of existing urban soils, which are highly drained and dry, in order to establish plant dynamics adapted to arid Mediterranean environments. Dry meadows, dense garrigue shrub masses and shaded, vegetated parking areas compose a restrained and robust landscape designed to endure over time. The selected species draw directly from the surrounding hills, extending their ecological logic into the heart of the neighbourhood.

Forest seedlings are integrated within garrigue-type shrub masses. These assemblages are intended to evolve freely and gradually give rise to structured groves reminiscent of Mediterranean oak woodland. Clearly separated from circulation areas, these planted masses are protected from trampling and maintained with minimal intervention, allowing autonomous development.

Over time, these groves form a structuring green framework at the scale of the neighbourhood. They support the integration of public facilities, protect play and sports areas, provide shade along pedestrian routes and create sheltered spaces from the mistral winds. The furniture, soberly designed using raw and durable materials, follows the same logic of economy of means and clarity of use.