Building a tramway downtown : the case of Marseille

In an attempt to put a stop to the city's deteriorating traffic and transport situation during the 1990s, Marseille launched a project to rebuild a tramway at the beginning of the 21st century. However, a new tramway in a city centre is not merely a means of transport : it is also a way of redeveloping social life. Each individual (including the inhabitants, shopkeepers, associations, those who live in the metropolitan district, town hall representatives in the various Marseilles arrondissements, municipal staff, and so on) has his own ideas, interests and agenda as well as his own capacity to either speed up or slow down the process. In order to carry out this project successfully, Jean-Michel Kuntzer, the project manager, had to tread carefully with the technical and administrative aspects, and to use his imagination while showing adaptability regarding questions of a relational nature.