La Tour d’Aygosi, located in the south of France just a few minutes outside of Aix-en-Provence is the urban space I chose for assignments 1.2 and 1.3. It is my grandparents apartment complex, where I have spent each summer growing up. The apartment complex is located off a main street called “Cours Gambetta” that runs directly into the center of Aix-en-Provence. Along this main road, there are bakeries, gas stations, pharmacies and other essential areas of commerce.
One of the main attractions of the complex that draws people to own apartments is the communal pool. The pool also symbolizes wealth in the community. Looking beyond the apartment complex itself and into the neighboring blocks, it can be seen that almost every other house has their own individual pool outside the complex. These pools are consistent with the theme of wealth inside the complex. This shows that although there is a gate to the complex, La Tour d’Aygosi and the properties on the outside appear to share the same level of wealth. In fact, houses around La Tour d’Aygosi range upwards of one million dollars typically, sometimes reaching up to six million. While the gate between the apartment complex and the surrounding urban area may be a physical boundary, it does not appear to reveal an economic boundary between the two areas.. This raises multiple questions: How selective is the housing in this urban area, and what are the main differences between the apartment complex (La Tour d’Aygosi) and the properties around it?
The wealth of the area also raises the question: who belongs? This question can be interpreted in many ways, some of which being race, age and culture. Predominantly, the citizens of this area are elderly locals. They often call themselves, “Marseillais” a french term referring themselves as citizens to Marseille the large city forty minutes away from Aix-en-Provence. These people tend to be caucasians. This suggests that those who are not white locals may not be welcome to this neighborhood. Unfortunately, the social economic demographics of the urban area around La Tour d’Aygosi reveals an enclosed selective culture.
Located right outside of the apartment complex is a park, Parc de la Torse, that is open to the public. This space welcomes people. The park has many paths and green spaces to sit down, have a picnic, walk a dog or even paint the scenery for some. There are also benches around the park that incite social interaction between people in the park. However, the Parc de la Torse is also a space of exclusion. The benches and other architecture is designed to prevent the homeless from sleeping in the park at night. As well, there is a gate at the front entrance that closes at 9PM on weekends and 8PM during the week. These features of the park are significant because they act both as inclusive and exclusive characteristics of the park.
The apartment complex and its surroundings can not be classified as a node because it is not a connecting point or intersection of major lines. However, it is still easy to get to. There is a bus stop located on Cours Gambetta, right outside of the apartment complex. This means that movement around this urban space is easy and accessible to all or most citizens. As well, the main city, Aix-en-Provence, is still walking distance from the urban area around the apartment complex. This reinforces the accessibility to movement to and from the urban space.
Overall, La Tour d’Aygosi and the surrounding area are separated by a physical boundary. However, this physical boundary does not apply to the racial, economic and age aspects of this area. Both people inside and out of the apartment complex are elderly white locals who have substantial amounts of money. This urban space is both welcoming and excluding, as it is inclusive but only for those fitting the demographic that is seen in the area.
Fig 1: Map of La Tour d’Aygosi & Surrounding Area:1