Creating a new “us” between residents and tourists in Marseille

As part of EUtopia, a project exploring regenerative tourism in Marseille, Barcelona and Napoli, we recently ran a small experiment in Marseille. The idea was simple: bring together residents, tourism professionals, visitors and tourists to talk and to collectively imagine how tourism could leave Marseille better and healthier for both people and the environment.

We organised a workshop in an unusual setting: on board one of the typical hop-on hop-off tourist buses that circulate through the city every half hour. The kind of bus we locals see all the time… but never actually take. Until now.

With around fifty participants on board, the bus became a moving conversation space. And what a rich exchange it was. Together we explored three questions: Why do people love this place? What potential does Marseille have for regenerative tourism? and What brilliant idea would you like to bring to life?

More than 100 concrete ideas came out of the session. Here some examples:

Peace tourism: La Bonne Mère as a place of hope for all in times of war and uncertainty. A new way to engage also non-believers and people of the different religions of Marseille.
A regenerative “made in Marseille” passport: with stamps to support local and bottom-up initiatives and products.
A “new us” tool: for locals and visitors, allowing people to connect one-to-one and share the city together ‘like a local’.
A free ride: invite locals to ride the tourist buses for free whenever there are empty seats, creating natural encounters between residents and visitors. Or do the same for other touristic attractions.
Artist swap: organise artist studio swaps, similar to house-swapping but for artists who want to work in another city for a few weeks.

EUtopia is a collaboration between Marseille Solutions, Lazzarelle and Ouishare Barcelona, funded by Erasmus+. Wetopia developed the “Power of Place approach” and the regenerative development framework that guides the project. Because the central question is always: “What makes our city uniquely significant and how can we use this potential to deeply partner with our city to make it thrive?” Even through tourism!

In January we travelled together to Barcelona to learn from the city’s past and from the new approaches that are emerging there out of necessity: over-tourism is already a major challenge there, and one that Marseille and Napoli will increasingly need to navigate as well. We did a walk with Hidden Tours that engages homeless people to show ‘their city’ and we had deep conversations and a fishbowl exchange with people who work hard to find new ways for tourism .

We have now submitted a new European project proposal, this time also including Athens. The focus: exploring how walking tours, social food, festivals and rural places close to the city can become levers for tourism that is better for people and planet. And how to become a great tourist.

Meanwhile, Moving Marseille has evolved into a small collective formed by the triumvirate of Joke, Camille and Alexis. You can read our vision here.