Urban agriculture and market gardening past along the canal de l'Ourcq

Paris and the Seine Saint-Denis region have known centuries of large-scale farming and market gardening in order to feed the ever-increasing number of inhabitants. 

The cultivation of cereals and specialized early market gardening was mainly established and developed in Bobigny, while the "Plaine des Vertus", which extended from Aubervilliers to La Courneuve, was specialized in the cultivation of vegetables. Specific varieties from this region were grown and consumed in large quantities by the people in Ile-de-France.

With urban development, these fields where replaced by housing complexes. However, nowadays, concerns about our food, short circuits and the restoration of a link with nature are being raised everyday in our large urbanized societies. 

This visit will revisit the past of the Seine Saint-Denis and Parisians' diet through the history of these large-scale agricultural and market gardening crops, and more recently on the development of contemporary urban agriculture projects.

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Thomasine Zoler will be your guide during this 1h30  walk. The visit starts at place de la Pointe in Pantin, it then follows the banks of the Ourcq canal and ends at la Prairie du Canal in Bobigny where you'll be greeted with a visit of the site. You can bring your own picnic but you can also eat on site.

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L'Été du Canal will take place from July 9th to August 14th 2022. For its 15th edition, this outdoor leisure festival offers you a fun, cultural, sporting and festive summer. A key summer event in Ile-de-France, the Été du Canal offers you every weekend at the bassin de La Villette, on and along the canal de l'Ourcq and the canal Saint-Denis, a rich and varied program of activities and events.

This visit is part of the bicentenary of the Ourcq Canal.