The Crossing Lines meeting on 5 May heard about a photo series on Parisian social housing and received an update from the Swanscombe Project

Chris Burke began with images from the summer of 2017, made while he was staying in the district of Boulogne-Billancourt, to the west of central Paris. After wandering the streets and boulevards of the district, he stumbled upon the Point du Jour housing complex. He had been entranced by the quality of the architecture and communal landscaping with its water fountains and bridges and gardens full of mature trees, plants and shrubs. His research into architect, Fernand Pouillon, led to revealing a surprising twist of fate and everyone enjoyed Chris’s presentation and the way he led us through the history.

After a short break, Anthony Palmer updated the group with details of the Swanscombe Project. The presentation covered some of the history of the Swanscombe marsh and also the reasons for starting the project in 2013, before highlighting recent developments which make the project once more relevant. The designation of the Swanscombe Peninsular as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) by Natural England in March this year looks likely to intensify the debate around whether it is a suitable location for the national infrastructure London Resort theme park. That is not the only cause for doubt. The Swanscombe Project blog remains online and acts as an important archive including details of three exhibitions and a seminar up until the group paused activities in 2015.

Zoom continues to be a good platform for these engaging and lively Crossing Lines discussions and new members are very welcome! Next meeting will be the first Wednesday in June and two photographers, involved previously in the Swanscombe Project, will show and talk about their work. The renewed project will kick off in July when we hope both old and new participants will contribute their reactions to a landscape under renewed threat.