Last updated: October 2024
The project La Ruée Verte aims to create a green corridor connecting two emblematic locations for social and environmental justice: La Base Marseille and L’Après M. The route spans over 7 km and passes through La Friche de La Belle de Mai and aims to bring more nature into the city on a larger scale in a fair and equitable way (Ref 2). Given the challenges of climate change—rising temperatures, urban heat islands, fewer trees in Marseille, and increasing urbanization—the green corridor will offer a solution to combat the suffocating effects of the city’s concrete sprawl (Ref 2). Additionally, it aims to reduce pollution peaks and improve air quality (Ref 2), increase biodiversity (Ref 2), and provide access to green spaces and places for social interaction (Ref 2). The project also addresses the broader social crisis, with rising costs of food, housing, and transportation (Ref 2). Local solidarity is key, ensuring that all green initiatives foster community interaction and consider the urgent needs of residents, such as precarious living conditions and isolation (Ref 2). Collective participation is central to the project, ensuring that it is designed by and for residents of different neighborhoods, reflecting their realities. The project, called “La Ruée Verte,” aims to unite various citizen groups, social centers, and associations to amplify their voices (Ref 2). The project's first phase, “La Petite Ruée,” will launch in October 2024, following a year of preparation. It will start with neighbourhood micro-projects and shared advocacy, including events and gatherings (Ref 2). The goal is to collectively think about social and climate justice and begin taking concrete actions towards popular ecology in each neighbourhood (Ref 2).
Map of the Ruée Verte project
https://marseilleentransition.fr/la-ruee-verte/ accessed on 10/09/2024
Overview
Nature-based solution
- Grey infrastructure featuring greens
- Alley or street trees and other street vegetation
- Parks and urban forests
- Green corridors and green belts
Key challenges
- Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
- Climate change adaptation
- Environmental quality
- Air quality improvement
- Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
- Green space creation and/or management
- Regeneration, land-use and urban development
- Promote natural styles of landscape design for urban development
- Health and well-being (SDG 3)
- Creation of opportunities for recreation
- Enabling opportunities for physical activity
- Improving physical health
- Inclusive and effective governance (SDG 16)
- Inclusive governance
- Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
- Social cohesion
- Social justice and equity
- Social interaction
- Environmental and climate justice
- Sense of community and community engagement
Principal problems in Functional Urban Area (FUA)
- Climate-Related Hazards
- Heat stress & Extreme temperatures
- Environmental Degradation
- Biodiversity loss
- Deforestation and forest degradation
- Air pollution
- Land use and Socio-economic change
- Rapid urbanization
- Unequal availability and access to public green spaces
Key priorities
Climate action (adaptation and/or mitigation), Biodiversity (conservation and/or restoration), Social Justice and community
Focus
Creation of new green areas, Creation of green corridors (including connectivity between urban and rural ecosystems)
Project objectives
1. Create a green corridor connecting two key locations that advocate for social and environmental justice (Ref 1).
2. Bring more nature into the city (Ref 2).
3. Adapt to climate change impacts such as rising temperatures and urban heat islands by increasing green spaces (Ref 2).
4. Improve air quality (Ref 2).
5. Foster social connections and create inclusive spaces that link neighbourhoods and break down social barriers (Ref 2).
6. Ensure community involvement in the project’s design and implementation, reflecting local realities and needs (Ref 2).
7. Promote local solidarity by addressing issues like precarious living conditions, isolation, and housing insecurity (Ref 2).
8. Create space for restoring biodiversity (Ref 2)
Implementation activities
1. Creating a 7 km green corridor that connects La Base Marseille, L’Après M, and La Friche de La Belle de Mai (Ref 1).
2. Designing the corridor through a participatory process involving local citizens and stakeholders (Ref 2).
4. Launching “La Petite Ruée” (phase I of the project) in October 2024:
- starting with neighbourhood micro-projects (Ref 2)
- Organizing events and meetings (Ref 2) like citizen agoras, seasonal festivals, greening initiatives, artistic experiments with plants, waste collection in collaboration with other organizations, gatherings, conferences, debates, and plant, seed, and plantlet exchanges (Ref 1).
- create a shared advocacy for social and environmental justice (Ref 2)
- creation of a website that brings together information, tools, photos and videos for sharing what is done and collecting opinions (Ref 2)
- In June 2024, hosting a guided tour to present a project (Ref 4).
Climate-focused activities
Climate change adaptation:
- Increase urban vegetation cover to reduce urban heat island effect
Communities vulnerable to environmental hazards or climate change impacts
Yes
Specification of climate or environmentally vulnerable communities
Low-income neighborhoods, Urban heat islands
Main beneficiaries
- Non-government organisation/Civil Society
- Citizens or community groups
- Marginalized groups: Socio-economically disadvantaged populations (e.g. low-income households, unemployed)
Governance
Management set-up
- Led by non-government actors
Type of initiating organisation
- Non-government organisation/civil society
Participatory approaches/ community involvement
- Co-planning (e.g. stakeholder workshops, focus groups, participatory mapping)
- Deliberative decision-making processes (e.g., consensus building, deliberative polling)
- Dissemination of information and education
- Consultation (e.g. workshop, surveys, community meetings, town halls)
- Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
- Co-management/Joint management
Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project
- Marseille en Transition (NGO): lead the project (Ref 1), in collaboration with:
- groups of residents
- Alternatiba Marseille (NGO)
- La Base Marseille (NGO)
- L'après M (NGO)
- other ecological and social stakeholders (Ref 2)
Project implemented in response to ...
... an EU policy or strategy?
No
... a national policy or strategy?
No
... a local policy or strategy?
Unknown
Type of enablers
Capacity-building projects, NGOs/Community groups driving the implementation
Financing
Total cost
Unknown
Source(s) of funding
- Unknown
Type of funding
- Unknown
Non-financial contribution
Type of non-financial contribution
- Provision of labour
- Provision of expertise
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
- Citizens (e.g. volunteering)
Impacts and Monitoring
Environmental impacts
- Climate change
- Lowered local temperature
- Expected lowered local temperature
- Environmental quality
- Improved air quality
- Expected improved air quality
- Improved soil quality
- Expected improved soil quality
- Green space and habitat
- Increased green space area
- Expected increased green space area
- Reduced biodiversity loss
- Expected reduced biodiversity loss
- Increased number of species present
- Expected increased number of species present
Economic impacts
- Increase of green jobs (e.g. paid employment positions)
- Expected increase of green jobs (e.g. paid employment positions)
Socio-cultural impacts
- Social justice and cohesion
- Improved social cohesion
- Expected improved social cohesion
- Improved access to urban green space
- Expected improved access to urban green space
- Increased opportunities for social interaction
- Expected increased opportunities for social interaction
- Increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
- Expected increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
- Health and wellbeing
- Improved physical health
- Expected improved physical health
- Reduced risk of heatstroke and/or dehydration
- Expected reduced risk of heatstroke and/or dehydration
- Enhanced cognitive restoration, relaxation and stress relief
- Expected enhanced cognitive restoration, relaxation and stress relief
- Education
- Increased awareness of NBS and their benefits
- Expected increased awareness of NBS and their benefits
Type of reported impacts
Presence of formal monitoring system
Unknown
Presence of indicators used in reporting
No evidence in public records
Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports
No evidence in public records
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
Potential risks of implementation and trade-offs
Unknown
References
1.
Marseille en transition (n.d.). Marseille en transition. Marseille: Marseille en transition, p. 1-4 Accessed on September 10, 2024, [Source link];
2.
Marseille en transition (n.d.). La Ruée Verte, c’est quoi ?. Marseille: Marseille en transition, p. 1-8 Accessed on September 10, 2024, [Source link];
3.
Sans transition (2024). [MARSEILLE EN TRANSITION] La Ruée Verte - en avant pour la phase mobilisation !. Marseille: Sans transition, p. 1-2 Accessed on September 10, 2024, [Source link];
4.
Sans transition (2024). Balade sur la ruée verte. Marseille: Sans transition, p. 1 Accessed on September 10, 2024,;
5.
INSEE (2021). Comparateur de territoires- Commune de Marseille 14e Arrondissement (13214). Marseille: INSEE, Accessed on September 10, 2024, [Source link];
6.
INSEE (2021). Comparateur de territoires- Commune de Marseille 3e Arrondissement (13204). Marseille: INSEE, Accessed on September 10, 2024, [Source link];
7.
INSEE (2021). Comparateur de territoires- Commune de Marseille 4e Arrondissement (13204). Marseille: INSEE, Accessed on September 10, 2024, [Source link];
Information about this nature-based solution was collected as part of the Naturescapes project funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement No 101084341.