His thinking integrates political ideas with urban architecture.
He belonged to the concrete utopia movement, which he described as "an attempt to rebuild and renovate politics around revolutionary values."
He is also the father of Elizabeth Castro, alias
Zazon, comedian and actress.
From 2008 to 2009, Roland Castro was appointed by the
President of the RepublicNicolas Sarkozy to lead a multidisciplinary team on the future of Greater Paris.
He argued for the implementation of symbolic high places of the republic and of culture, and to restore intensity and beauty to the "suburbs".
Castro died in
Paris on 9 March 2023, at the age of 82.[3]
Architectural accomplishments
Many renovations by remodeling of large structures
Media center, hotel and housing, 115 rue de Bagnolet,
Paris 20.
2008-2009: Participation in the consultation "Le Grand Pari(s) de l’agglomération parisienne"
Political engagement
Roland Castro had a political career in various left movements:
Activist in the Union of Communist Students and the
French Communist Party, from which he was expelled in 1965. He joined the Union des jeunesses communistes marxistes-léninistes the following year.
Maoist in the 1970s, in the movement Vive le Communisme (1968), which soon after transformed itself into
Vive la révolution (VLR), which he cofounded with
Tiennot Grumbach.
After the dissolution of VLR in 1971, he met Lacan and began a psychoanalysis with him that lasted seven years.
As a Mitterrandist in 1981, he created a structure of response and reflection on the suburbs called Banlieues 89.
Resigned from the Socialist Party on the day that
Bernard Tapie entered the government.
Back to the CPF under
Robert Hue, member of the National Party.
In response to the Chirac / Le Pen duel in the second round of the 2002 presidential elections, in 2003 created with some friends including Eric Halphen 's MUC, the Movement of concrete utopia. This is a new "political movement" (not party) as a citizen, which he called evolutionary and which he chaired.
In 2011, he announced support for the candidacy of
Arnaud Montebourg in the Socialist primaries.
Concrete utopia movement
The concrete utopia movement (MUC) is a political movement created by Roland Castro and others in 2003. This movement defends "89 proposals to restore social bonds", without revolution transforming society towards more republican equality and justice. These proposals have arisen from the reflection of Roland Castro and his desire to advance "concrete utopias" and is "evolutionary" to give new meaning to politics. In August 2006, he toured from
Saint-Tropez to
Sarcelles by bus to promote the 89 proposals of the MUC. The candidacy of its leader to the presidential election of 2007 did not succeed. On 12 March 2007 he withdrew due to lack of adequate sponsorship.
Bibliography
Roland Castro (1984). 1989. Paris: Barrault Éditions.
ISBN978-2736000165.
Roland Castro (1992). Civilisation urbaine ou barbarie. Paris: Éditions Omnibus. p. 187.
ISBN978-2259026598.
Roland Castro (2005). J'affirme : Manifeste pour une insurrection du sens. Paris: Éditions Sens & Tonka. p. 160.
ISBN978-2845341227.
Roland Castro; Sophie Denissof; Jean-Pierre Le Dantec (2005). (Re)Modeler Métamorphose. Paris: Le Moniteur Éditions. p. 246.
ISBN978-2281192285.
Roland Castro; Claude Perrotin (2007). Faut-il passer la banlocatione au Kärcher ?. Paris: Éditions l'Archipel. p. 139.
ISBN978-2841878949.
Roland Castro (2010). L'utopie est mon métier. Paris: Éditions l'Archipel.
ISBN978-2809803709.