Abstract

This article constructs a utopic journey into the oblique mixed-use housing development, Cité Les Longs Sillons (1986) in the outer Parisian commune of Ivry-sur-Seine, crossing borders between its urban ‘reality’ and a fictional other. Its aim is to highlight the significance of the legacy of oblique architectures and their vulnerability: as the social and political consensus of their moment of foundation fades; as their maintenance increasingly reflects the economics of crisis; as they transition from confident propositions of urban futurity to enclave artefacts of a radical past. The article is the result of collaborative fieldwork, including performance through improvised movement, different modes of photography, and sound recordings. These diverse techniques are interwoven through a narrative and descriptive account of the site — which includes encounters with both ‘real’ and ‘fictional’ characters — constructing a speculative discourse of the site as a quasi-fictional utopic portrait; reconfiguring the Cité as a stage for representational spatial play.

How to Cite:

Wilson, R., (2026) “Cité Les Longs Sillons: A Utopic Report from Obliquity”, field 10(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.62471/field.141