Le Figaro Nantes
Many plantations, wide pedestrian walkways, a few benches and a series of fountains: in the city center of Nantes, the Feydeau-Commerce sector has changed. "Imagine yourself going back a few years. Here, there were cars, bitumen and a very present black color, "says Thomas Quéro, assistant to sustainable urban planning. "It was a bus station with the passage of 538 buses a day and anything but a place to walk with some sparse lawns," describes the mayor, Johanna Rolland. The area also had a reputation for being frequented by dealers.
In 2016, the decision was taken to launch a consultation to rethink this space. Seven years later, its realization has just come out of the ground. In the first sense of the term because the sector is now a "garden platform" - as the mayor describes it - which is part of a vast project of "green flow" from the station to the Loire on which the elected representative relies a lot. The rehabilitation, orchestrated by landscape architect Jacqueline Osty, cost 30.3 million euros. It covers 2.7 hectares of which 3400 square meters have been vegetated.
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Nature and minerality
"This project reflects our ambition to strengthen the place of nature in the city," says Johanna Rolland. If trees were felled including plane trees - "some were not in good condition or hid the facades" dixit Jacqueline Osty - the balance of "planting is positive", ensures the mayor. In numbers, this is what it gives: 61 trees planted as well as 1051 shrubs and 30,000 perennial plant seeds to which is added the presence of 1500 irises. In reality, the perception of passers-by is more nuanced. "The part near the tram is clearly nicer but the one in the extension is very mineral. It lacks a little greenery," says Martine, a downtown resident accustomed to crossing the area. She is not the only one to walk it. About 100,000 people cross paths there every day.
1500 irises were planted to evoke the temporality of nature. "The flowering period will give a seasonal link with this place", for Jacqueline Osty. JC / Le Figaro
The observation is similar for Claude: "The area with the flowers is very beautiful but the rest is sober to say the least". Messages posted on social networks by some go in the same direction. "You don't build a city with tweets or blogs," tackles Johanna Rolland. Annoyed by these remarks, she defends the choices made: "There is a principle of reality. It was not possible to do deep planting because of an underground car park in this space." On this point, Jacqueline Osty wants to be more poetic. It evokes a "nature that infiltrates the urban fabric". She also calls for patience: "We must give the planted trees time to grow. The volumetry will be visible in a few years."
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Eight closed-circuit fountains
The mineral zone, composed of granite, is not completely virgin. Several fountains - which "operate in a closed circuit so as not to waste water," says the mayor - have been installed. Their layout has been thought out in order to keep "the fluidity" of pedestrian and bicycle movements while "animating this plateau", describes Jacqueline Osty. For this, multiple jets will be deployed and will give verticality to this "flattened space" as it already exists at the Water Mirror located in front of the castle of the Dukes of Brittany for several years.
Water jets must give verticality in a space that has been flattened. JC /Le Figaro
Again, for some inhabitants, development is not obvious. "I think it's dark and I have the impression that the fountains are isolated in a huge space," says Nicolas, a young executive who lives on the outskirts of Nantes. His colleague, Éric, points to the few steps that divide this space from that of the Place du Commerce: "There may be some falls especially in the late evening but I find the site much more soothing than before." Enough to satisfy Johanna Rolland who repeats that this rehabilitation of the space would bring "more joy".
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More cameras
Another element that the mayor wishes to highlight: enhanced security. "This is part of our strategy to reduce traffic. Public lighting has been reviewed. The number of CCTV cameras has been increased from eight to thirteen," she explains. Work was also carried out on the tram station located in this space. "We have removed the edicules that were used by dealers to store goods in sometimes significant quantities," explains Pascal Bolo, the deputy for security and public tranquility.
The plantations do not go very high in order to prevent dealers from using them to hide. JC /Le Figaro
The vegetation has also been selected so as not to promote "misuse" as the elected representative of Nantes describes them. "There is no plantation at human height so that a person cannot hide behind groves," says Johanna Rolland. A transparency - already visible on the tram stops recently renovated - supposed to "facilitate the work and interventions" of the police, according to the edile. If the sector therefore seems unsuitable for dealers, they have already become accustomed to settling a few meters away at the crossing of trams. A site that the Nantes police know only too well lately to intervene frequently.
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Weekend of festivities
In order to inaugurate the new development described as "a place of walk and relaxation", the community organizes "multiple animations" Saturday and Sunday. In particular, acrobatic courses, introductions to parkour (the discipline of the art of travel, editor's note) and giant games for children will be offered. The highlight of the festivities will take place on Saturday at 17pm with the impoundment of the eight fountains.