The Akarova garden takes its name from the adjacent square, dedicated to Marguerite Acarin, the Belgian dancer, choreographer, sculptor and painter who left her mark on her time. It is a secret urban garden in the heart of the Marolles, a green setting emerging within a dense, mineral landscape. This in-ground garden, laid out without a rigid grid, combines orchard trees — apple, pear, apricot and plum — with a vegetable garden, bread oven, composting and rainwater recovery.
As a meeting place and neighbourhood space, it welcomes associations and nearby residents, adults and children alike, for collective activities. Its landscape has taken shape over the years through citizen initiatives and neighbourhood contracts. Artists have also been involved, creating frescoes in lime, mosaics and sgraffiti with local stakeholders to evoke neighbourhood memory. At the crossroads of the social, architectural, living and artistic, this place questions our shared heritage and the future of hybrid spaces that redraw the urban landscape.