Saint-Leu — Water, Workshops and a Working District
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Transcript
The Saint-Leu district grew around branches of the Somme where water powered mills and supported craft production. Narrow channels, small plots and working-class housing gave this quarter a very different texture from the monumental centre.
Textile production was especially important to Amiens, whose famous wares included woollen and later industrial fabrics. Waterways were therefore economic infrastructure, not decorative canals.
Today cafés and university life have changed the district again. That does not erase the industrial past; it demonstrates a familiar urban cycle in which infrastructure first creates a working neighbourhood and later becomes part of its attraction.