Collectif Etc

The “Détour de France” is a project developed by Collectif Etc since October 2011. Inspired by the bicycle race “Tour de France”, twelve of the permanent members of the collective are cycling around the country for a full year. Departure and arrival are in Strasbourg, the city where the collective was founded and where its first projects were carried out. Stopovers of a few weeks are planned in twelve major towns of France. In many French towns, initiatives that implicate the citizens in the management and the planning of their cities are emerging. This phenomenon raises consciousness about the need to think the future of our cities together, as a mean for effective democracy and social empowerment. These initiatives come from very different people: inhabitants, associations, committees, artists, professionals, institutions, elected officials… Our goal is to meet these different “actors” to get involved with them in the “public making process of the city” and to seek a possible evolution of the work of an architect towards a more social practice. A truly amazing project! At read more you can see one example of what they did during their stopover in Dormoy, Bordeaux.