http://www.amilcarferreira.com/la%20petite%20ceinture.html

Traditional markets play a key role in the development of local economic and social development. They represent the bridge between local production and the people. Our idea focuses on improving 3 of their structural aspects:

ENVIRONMENTAL Envisioning a less pollutant, self-sufficient market that both produces and distributes its goods without resorting to 3nd party distributing.

ECONOMICAL Creating an original structure that promotes itself, thus generating interest on its producers and goods.

LOCAL Impacting positively the city through the rehabilitation of abandoned infrastructure and the merge of both local and touristic interests.

Our concept takes preexisting railway networks like the High Line in New York or the Petite Ceinture in Paris and brings them back to life, giving them a purpose. Once fundamental to the distribution of goods and people throughout the cities, these structures have, during modern times, succumbed to the emerging of new metro lines and exponential population growth.

We understand that they penetrate deep within the city through dense neighborhoods in the core of the urban mesh.

Paris is one of the world's most visited cities and has one of the highest population densities, yet it still offers a wide array of antiques and other traditional markets. The Marché des Puces is a good example as it is the biggest flea market in the world, but every day there is always something somewhere in the city that shows that markets are deep-rooted in the Parisian life. And that leads to a problem: Every day there are dozens of markets spread around the city with parked vans blocking the bicycle paths, metal structures being pitched leaving garbage piled after their dismantlement. The amount of waste produced by these structures is something that we are very concerned about.

Our solution is simple. We propose the rehabilitation of infrastructures like the petite ceinture, where the market propels itself whilst assembled and stops in the core of the city without disrupting other aspects of the urban life. And without generating waste. The train houses the workshops/stores and its necessary services, and, while on the move, visitors can take a ride in it. This promotes not only the market itself, but also interaction between residents and tourists.