Reclaiming the Mediterranean City: Contesting the Legitimacy of Urban Renewal Projects and the Airbnb Economy in Marseille

In recent years, Marseille has experienced rising migration and tourism massification. Entire neighbourhoods, such as La Joliette, have undergone gentrification while other neighbourhoods, such as Noailles, have, to some extent, resisted gentrification schemes and urban renewal projects. A city that prides in its “Mediterraneaness”, Marseille is known for its immigrant population but also for its segregation and high levels of inequality. As an Airbnb economy proliferates throughout the city, residents are weary of the city’s plans to attract more tourism. A crisis of legitimacy that followed the collapse in 2018 of two neglected buildings at the centre of the city has inspired protests, acts of commemoration, and a growing anti-Airbnb sentiment among the so-called “popular” neighbourhoods. This chapter seeks to examine these various events and movements by focusing on the following questions: How have urban renewal projects and the rise of short-term rentals (Airbnb and other similar platforms) affected access to housing in Marseille? How do local municipalities manage these transformations and to what effect? How do residents claim the “right to the city”? (Lefebvre 1996)