What future for urban countryside ?
Urban Countryside © PUCA
Entitled "Objectif ZAN ? Apprendre du périurbain et des campagnes urbaines", a publication summarizes the series of meetings organized from September 2019 to March 2020 by the Plan urbanisme construction architecture (PUCA). This book incorporates the considerations of the round table "The urbanization of the countryside in Europe", which was held on November 12, 2019, in Strasbourg, attended by Prof. Emmanuel Rey from the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST).
On the occasion of the publication of the book “Densifier / Dédensifier, Penser les campaigns urban”, edited by Béatrice Mariolle and Jean-Michel Léger, the Plan urbanisme construction architecture (PUCA) organized a series of meetings in National schools of architecture. Round tables were thus held in several cities in France, bringing together students, teachers, experts, and practitioners to discuss the specificities of urban campaigns and the challenges for the relevant disciplines.
Moderated by Sylvain Allemand, these multiple debates took place in the schools of Paris-Belleville, Rouen-Normandie, Strasbourg, Clermont-Ferrand, at the École nationale supérieure d’architecture et du paysage in Lille and at the École nationale des travaux publics de l’État in Lyon. As a result of these many discussions, the collection published today allows outlining development prospects for these territories located outside the large urban centers.
In this respect, the notion of soft densification occupies a prominent place in the search for specific strategies. Between the targeted intensification of buildings and the risk of uncontrolled competition from weakened territories, it constitutes an important field of research. In a context of transition, its implementation may encounter some resistance from the neighborhood, generating a syndrome mentioned by Prof. Emmanuel Rey by the acronym of PUMA ("Peut-être utile mais ailleurs" - "Maybe useful but elsewhere"). Like other urban areas, this undoubtedly results in increased requirements in terms of architectural, urban, and landscape quality.