lavillecotiere.fr

The website lavillecotiere.fr is an integral part of La Ville Côtière project.
It is currently in open beta.

lavillecotiere.fr is a website developed from the desire to offer a novel on the web, not simply by transcribing a paper novel into digital form, but by seeking to take advantage of the possibilities offered by a web browser in order to write a story that is, in both form and content, adapted to this medium.

The result of this desire to invent a new form of novel is an open world — similar to those seen in video games such as Grand Theft Auto V or Cyberpunk 2077 — which users are free to explore as they wish by scrolling through a map. Advertisements for fictional brands scattered here and there link to advertisers’ websites, while news sites relay the latest hot topics from La Ville Côtière. It is always useful to check the sources of articles, because in La Ville Côtière, the media, like everything else, belongs to the two megacorporations Major and Id&Al.

By clicking on the links they encounter as they progress, users are free to lose themselves in the maze of web pages. They learn about this parallel world, its economy, its liberal logic, and discover how people live in a world where selfishness is a virtue. The websites of the city’s companies reflect their obsession with reproduction, because in this world designed for infinite growth, a decline in the birth rate is unwelcome. As the famous saying goes: “Fewer births means less growth”.


lavillecotiere.fr also invites visitors to follow three main characters, Alx, Rob, and Lou, through videos featuring them or by exploring their messages. The intertwined destinies of these three protagonists form a narrative thread that spans seven days, each of which can be likened to a chapter. The multiplicity of narrative content sources contributes to creating a non-linear reading experience, the pace of which depends on the reader’s clicks and curiosity.

By evoking science fiction without describing great technological feats, I wanted to make La Ville Côtière feel close to us. Its unsettling realism and timid futurism constantly remind us that this world is not very different from our own.