Whatever cinematic stardust fell on Marseille as a result of the 1971 Hollywood film The French Connection and its 1975 sequel was tempered by the unhelpful impression it created of a city that was rough, tough and riddled with organised crime. It was only ever a part of the truth, but it did reflect the fact that Marseille, like many a big European port, had, by the last quarter of the 20th century, hit a lean patch. The oil crisis, the closure of the Suez Canal and the gradual loss of France’s colonies all took their toll. The docks declined; unemployment was high, the population went into decline.

But pugilistic old Marseille fought back, and over the last decade the city’s ascent has been determined and successful. Nowadays the place fizzes with energy. It boasts the most active theatre scene outside Paris – now just three hours away, thanks to the TGV – and the hotel provision has been transformed in recent years, notably at the top end. Indeed, over the next three years a regeneration programme the equal of anything attempted in Europe will reach its climax.

Euroméditerranée, the government-backed agency tasked with transforming the city, is nothing if not ambitious. Founded in 1995 to regenerate a 310ha zone between the docks, the historic Vieux Port and the city’s mainline railway station, the agency’s task is to channel €7bn of investment into Marseille, creating a million square metres of commercial space, 35,000 jobs and 18,000 homes. In late 2007 it was agreed to extend the regeneration zone by a further 170ha in the north of the city.

But this only tells half the story, and it’s only once you see what Euroméditerranée has already achieved on the ground that you understand the magnitude of the transformation being wrought.

The agency’s first big milestones were the creation of a 26,000m2 multimedia park in a former tobacco factory at Belle de Mai and the conversion into office space of the 19th-century warehouse complex of Les Docks, completed in 2002. Belle de Mai, which serves as an incubator for creative companies, is the number two location in France for firms producing films, TV programmes, advertisements, video games, 3D animation, mobile phone content and broadband internet. Meanwhile, the once shabby district of La Joliette surrounding Les Docks has blossomed into a significant contemporary business quarter. Big-name tenants include the likes of BNP Paribas.

Behind Les Docks a modest cluster of skyscrapers is, for the first time, giving Marseille a grown–up metropolitan skyline, designed by a who’s who of big-name architects and crowned by Zaha Hadid’s geometric 33-storey skyscraper for shipping conglomerate CMA CGM.These buildings are served by sleek new air-conditioned trams and linked to the city centre by the Rue de la République, a stately but until recently rather tatty 19th-century boulevard in classic Haussmann style. Along its entire  
1.1km length the stone facades are being cleaned and the retail premises re-let, often to well-known international multiples. At the Vieux Port end the road has magicked into a fashionable shopping drag.

Along the waterfront, the 1920s Arenc grain silo is being reinvented as a 2,000-seat concert hall and conference venue.

A new esplanade will re-establish the relationship between the city and shipping, creating an appropriate setting for the cruise liners and ferries that have made Marseille France’s fourth-busiest passenger port. Last December, Hammerson, a London-based real estate giant, announced its acquisition of Les Terrasses du Port, a 150-unit portside shopping centre with a 260m restaurant terrace overhanging the water. Work on the project – already 30% pre-let – is set to begin this autumn.

No urban renaissance is complete without its cultural icon, and Marseille’s is taking shape on a prominent site at the entrance to the Vieux Port. The Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisation is the first national museum to be built outside Paris and should be ready in time to play its part in Marseille’s year as European Capital of Culture in 2013.

Designed by Algerian-born architect Rudy Ricciotti, the building balances European modernity and Arab architectural tradition, the fusion, reflecting the mission of the museum itself. Euroméditerranée’s task – to promote Marseille to the front rank of European cities – is more ambitious still.