PAR(C)IMAGE

Project overview

Taking the Grand Chemin Metropolitan Park project as its field of inquiry, this research examines the evolution of representations of Greater Paris’s eastern region through the lens of ‘soft infrastructure’ – understood as the foundation upon which communities and territories function, whose ecological footprint would enable coexistence with living organisms.

This historical and visual approach offers a reverse chronological history of the park’s territory, focusing on representations of past projects, on the unthought and the erased, but also on survivals and lingering traces. Visual material is prioritised to analyse the production and circulation of these representations. The aim is to build up a rich body of documentary and historical evidence on the territory, which can be drawn upon in the operational project.

The three components of the research project are: identifying archival collections; organising student workshops; and holding study days with both local and international perspectives. The work resulting from these study days will be published on the website www.inventerlegrandparis.fr.

The PAR(C)IMAGE project has been awarded funding under the MSH Paris Nord 2026 call for proposals for a duration of two years. It forms part of the ongoing research initiatives of the ‘Inventer le Grand Paris’ programme, and in particular its ‘Visions and Landscapes’ initiative.

Photo credit: Sonia Keravel_Romainville_20251110