Every design for Sarcelles

Have you heard people here talk about a 'Sarcelles identity'? It is real enough to be studied: in this northern suburb of Paris, pieds-noirs from Algeria, a vibrant Jewish community, Caribbean families and the largest concentration of Assyrians in France have built a town where ethnic minorities gained political influence earlier than almost anywhere else in the country.

What makes Sarcelles unusual is that it is really two towns. The old village grew up along the Petit Rosne around its church of Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul; a kilometre to the south rose one of the first large housing estates in France, built through the fifties and sixties, a model that later new towns were designed to avoid. Everyday life runs through the RER D at Garges–Sarcelles, the market streets and the parks, while the Château d'Ecouen, the Musée de la Renaissance and the Fort d'Ecouen lie just to the north.

The Parc des Prés-sous-la-Ville sums it up best: rolling grass, a stretch of water, children's games and picnic tables free for anyone.