Protected Areas and urban regeneration. An ÉcoQuartier in the Calanques National Park’s Adhesion Area

Within the international discourse on integrated and interscalar strategies for urban and territorial regeneration, the role of Protected Areas (PAs) is gaining prominence as a key element of urban planning. These areas are undergoing a paradigm and approach renewal, recognised not only for their role in nature conservation, but as strategic components for climate resilience, maintenance of ecosystem services, natural risks reduction, sustainable development and the well-being of settled communities and species (1.). Moreover, growing trends in terms of area, driven by international policies and strategies, intensify the interaction between PAs and urban contexts, emphasising the need for a comprehensive territorial approach beyond protected boundaries to maximise benefits and substantiate new conservation paradigms. In this context, within the regeneration strategies implemented in Marseille and the Parc National des Calanques (PNCal), a positive inclination towards potential integration between the territorial context and the PA becomes evident. Innovations can be ascribed to four reference principles: co-planning, interscalarity, integration and project development, which will be highlighted in the specific case of the ÉcoQuartier des Calanques. The PNCal is the first metropolitan National Park in France, both terrestrial and marine, and among the Urban PAs recognised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It was established in 2012, after a long process to protect an area with exceptionally high environmental, landscape and cultural values, which marks the southern border of the third most populous metropolitan area in France, with 1.6 million inhabitants. The PNCal's territory is characterized by the overlap of terrestrial and maritime spaces, as well as urban and natural spaces, posing significant challenges and prompting innovative solutions. The governing instrument for PNCal is the Charte du Parc, reformed by Law 2006-436 in 2006, which, adopting a more integrated approach to the territory, introduces new components: cœur, aire d'adhésion and solidarité écologique. According to this legislative update, the territory of National Parks is composed of the cœur, in which superordinate regulatory prescriptions and the Réglementation en Cœur are in force, and the aire d'adhésion. This includes part or entire municipalities that, due to geographical continuity or ecological solidarity with the cœur, decide to join the Charte and its sustainable development project, actively contributing to territory protection. The aire d’adhésion on the Marseille side, identified by the "Carte des vocations" as “Espaces à vocation d’habitat ou d’activité économique”, represents the focus of this contribution. These areas, already heavily urbanised, serve as interfaces between city and nature, transitional spaces between urbanity and naturalness, central to various planning documents: PNCal Charte and Plan du Paysage, as well as the Schéma de Cohérence Territoriale and the Plan Local d’Urbanisme intercomunal. The strategies implemented at various scales include restoring ecological continuity; defining access points to the Park's cœur; mitigating risks, particularly fire risk; regeneration of existing city fabric. Regarding the latter topic, the Charte (2.) emphasises the importance of the establishment of PNCal as an opportunity for the regeneration of urban fabric, to be integrated into strategies for the co-valorisation of natural and peri-urban spaces. It also indicates, specifically, areas in which such experimentations can be undertaken, such as the Hauts de Mazargues district, which was targeted in 2011 by a Projet de Rénovation Urbaine (PRU), labelled ÉcoQuartier in 2015. The initiative expanded its scope to include Zac de la Jarre and La Cayolle district, ultimately being named ÉcoQuartier des Calanques. The ÉcoQuartier is in the broader, predominantly affluent, southern sector of the city, with which it contrasts as it is historically marked by situations of deprivation and marginalisation. In the post-World War II period, camps for refugees were built there, which were then completely raised to the ground in the 1980s, wiping out its identity elements to make way for a wider urbanisation of poor morphological quality. However, even in the 1990s and 2000s, the district was characterised by socio-economic distress and criminality (3.). The urban regeneration strategy, led by PRU and the ÉcoQuartier label, aims not only to improve ecological and landscape aspects but also to integrate social, mobility, and welfare aspects (4.). The program included new public facilities and modernisation of existing ones; building renovation and energy efficiency; public housing; soft mobility network; green and blue network and public spaces (Parc de la Jarre, water retention basin, Allé des Calanques); Allée des Calanques as the structuring axis of the district. The case of ÉcoQuartier des Calanques highlights the comprehensive and integrated approach of French National Park aire d’adhésion, conceived as project area aimed at disseminating the benefits of PAs in urban settings. Moreover, the integrated approach inherent in the ÉcoQuartier designation has stimulated solutions for regeneration not only in ecological aspects but also in socio-economic, mobility, morphological quality, and welfare dimensions. However, considering the complex history of the district and its proximity to wealthier zones, potential gentrification effects must be considered, potentially undermining the identity of the district.