EcoCités: will to develop "new towns", more respectful of the environment by the French State following the Grenelle de l'Environnement
The need to undertake, in certain urban areas, a quantitative and qualitative effort of construction aimed at allowing the emergence of truly sustainable cities or parts of cities has been recognized on several occasions:
- the participants in the final round table of the Grenelle Environnement have made a commitment that around fifteen major architectural, social and energy innovation projects will be carried out. This commitment was reiterated in article 7 of the Grenelle Environment program bill, which provides that the State “will encourage the realization, by voluntary agglomerations, of global energy, architectural and social innovation programs, in continuity with existing buildings, which will integrate in their objectives the renovation of the existing heritage, the development of public transport and energy-efficient modes of travel, the consideration of economic and social issues, the reduction of space consumption and the realisation of
several eco-districts ”;
- the President of the Republic mentioned in his speech of December 11, 2007, in Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, “cities of a new kind which will have to be laboratories of urban modernity (…) showcases of French excellence and (…) At the forefront of innovation in terms of architectural excellence, high environmental quality, technologies
of transport and communication ”. He also spoke out in favor of the creation of "new towns" (and not "new towns") in Île-de-France, which are "towns of sustainable development, with renewable energies, with public transport. common, with people who are happy to live there… ”;
The ÉcoCités approach aims to boost the realization of these new kind of development projects. It aims to identify agglomerations which, in partnership with economic, social and institutional players, volunteer to initiate a resolutely innovative approach in terms of urban design and construction, and to support the projects most suited to constituting emblems. of the sustainable city.
Since the ex nihilo creation of new towns is not a response to contemporary challenges, the EcoCities will have to be part of the continuity of already existing agglomerations and promote close links, in a physical and functional sense, between new and old districts. As part of the continuity of the surrounding territory projects, the projects must be based on existing planning tools and documents or indicate the orientations and methods of their revision, in particular from the point of view of governance and participation.