This article aims to explore the complexity of suburbs transformation in cities which tend to be more and more integrated and multi-polar, by exploring the case-study of Marseille, European Capital of Culture in 2013, a city which is living a deep process of change that will radically modify its structure. Euroméditerranée, a project that since twenty years ago has been renovating the second city in France, is changing the relationships between centre and suburbs and putting at issue all

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... g balance. This process is not painless and impose an analysis of concepts that are commonly used in public discourse, even if they are often differently meant by several actors in the running, as banlieue, Quartiers Nord, Cité. This paper is the result of an ethnographic qualitative research and quotes expressions and definitions collected during interviews.