Besides creating modern urban habitat nearer to the central business district and the touristic circuit, Port Louis promoters may need as well to favour the inception of a creative and cultural district. The objective is to attract young people in the capital rather than leaving them no other choice than hanging out in shopping malls, providing them with a sense of place, encouraging trendy activities.
Its buildings often abandoned, sometimes already pulled down and converted into parkings, most of the time assigned to low-skilled activities, the neighbourhood seems sadly decrepit. Neighbouring Chinatown and the Jummah Mosque, stretching from Place d’Armes to Sun Yat Sen Street, this North-South corridor constitute, between rue Farquhar and rue Royale, both an exceptional site and a formidable opportunity.
DiverCité / DiverCity – as named by its PLDI conceptors – is meant to host restaurants and cafés, piano bars, concert halls, coworking spaces for innovative tasks, based upon artificial intelligence, Big Data analysis, digital creation, 3D Printing and various fab labs. On DiverCité’s western side, between the capital city and the ocean, will stand the Immigration Square Urban Terminal, a critical connector between the North of the island, its employees working in Port-Louis and southbound commuters. With its 800 parkings slots, it will facilitate pedestrian access to the cultural district which will be car-free.
Targeting mainly millennials, and elders enjoying urban leisure, this neighbourhood is called upon to socially rejuvenate Port Louis, being host as well to some residents, in refurbished unoccupied offices and workshops. Inviting people to be the city’s lifeblood.
