L’Autre Soie is a mixed-use urban project in Villeurbanne, France, in the Carré de Soie area near Lyon. It combines housing, culture, workspaces, artistic workshops, and a public park, with the aim of creating an open urban place that brings different users and functions together.12
The project is run by GIE La Ville Autrement, with support from the CCO. According to the project’s own site, the initiative is carried by four members of GIE La Ville Autrement: Est Métropole Habitat, Rhône Saône Habitat, the Fondation Aralis, and Alynea – Samu Social 69, alongside the CCO.1 The site also states that the project was initiated by GIE La Ville Autrement, which designed an ambitious hybrid model combining different forms of housing, culture, and economic activity.1
The scope is substantial. The project includes 293 housing units, a 1,000-seat concert hall, work and creative spaces, and a public park.1 Other project descriptions describe it as transforming the site of the former girls’ hostel of the TASE factory into a larger mixed program of social and solidarity-based economic activities, while opening a centenary park to residents.25 The project has been delivered in stages, with early openings and constructions beginning around 2020–2021, and further deliveries scheduled through 2026.23
The project is also tied to a strong social and cultural mission. The CCO describes itself as a local laboratory for social and cultural innovation active in the Lyon metropolitan area since 1963, and says it plays the role of connecting people on the site and programming cultural and civic activities throughout the year.1