Unusual Strasbourg: rue du Jeu-des-Enfants

For many years, rue du Jeu-des-Enfants was like a forgotten side street in the center of Strasbourg, despite its movie theater, shops, and restaurants. Most of the time, people would just pass through while driving from place Saint-Pierre-le-Vieux to place de l’Homme de fer. Thanks to a local initiative, it has been transformed into a vibrant, artsy, and unique street.

In June 2017, rue du Jeu-des-Enfants was given a new look. With the help of a non-profit organization called Akpé (an “alternative architecture lab”), residents and shopkeepers teamed up to re-appropriate this public space. The street was turned into a pedestrian area, and spruced up with plants and splashes of color, like murals, fun street furnishings, suspended art, and multi-colored cobblestones painted on the pavement...

What’s more, the locals have made sure to maintain the newfound dynamic energy of their street. In October 2021, they re-painted the yellow, blue, and orange cobblestone pattern on the ground to make the colors on the pavement nice and bright again, and they planted even more greenery.