Les Choux (the cabbage) is a residential development project located in Creteil, southeastern suburb of Paris, France. Built in the early 1970s, designed by Gerard Grandval. It was a project of imagination to connect two environments – urban and nature. Although these buildings were utopian promise to create liveable, sustainable cities of the future, now years later, we get still the sense of unfamiliarity while perceiving these areas. Some of these, with radical urban environments, have become impoverished and isolated, reflecting the social failure.
This book shows a collage of photos of the life in Paris suburban areas, bringing out a sensitive consciousness of the surrounding environment. The grey concrete-scapes surrounded by the fragility of nature, the bareness of the spaces, anonymity and intimacy between the individuals form a different vision of urbanity. Like the cabbage, consisting of many different layers, each separate but still belonging together – Les Choux is reflecting the importance of coexisting.