Last month, the southern French city of Bordeaux spent ten days focusing on its own urban development. Under the theme ‘Paysages métropolitains’, Bas Smets curated this year’s Bordeaux Biennale – something of an outsider amongst biennales, with a clear political agenda.

Bordeaux has been undergoing dynamic urban development for many years. Mayor Alain Juppé, a former Prime Minister of France, is steering a policy with a firm hand and a clear vision, aimed at transforming Bordeaux into a metropolis of European stature. Following a successful large-scale regeneration of the city centre and the station district on the rive gauche, the rive droite is now being developed. There, 10,000 hectares of former industrial land are being transformed into a fully-fledged new district, linked to the station by a bridge designed by Oma.