Urban planning: the peri-urban area, a strategic space for the ecological transition, according to a report

Located between town and country, peri-urban areas are home to 30% of the French population and are strategic territories for achieving the ecological transition, according to a Terra Nova report published a few days ago, which calls for a change of perspective.

In the report entitled "Long live the peri-urban! For urban countryside at the heart of territorial transitions", Jean-Marc Offner, president of the urban school of Sciences Po, argues for making the peri-urban "a laboratory of transformation", by focusing on gentle densification, alternative mobilities, the requalification of activity zones, the relocation of services and land sobriety.

Peri-urban areas have experienced the strongest population growth over the past four decades (+63% between 1968 and 2011), in particular because they meet a series of aspirations of the French, such as the demand for space, access to property, proximity to nature or the services of the city.

The peri-urban area is a "plural" territory mixing suburban housing areas and agricultural areas, modest families and teleworking professionals, old villages and new business parks.

But it is also the symbol of a development model criticized for its ecological impact, particularly due to the car dependency of its inhabitants and its energy-intensive housing.

Despite its growth, it remains "invisible" in public policy. Often caricatured as "ugly France," it lacks legal and statistical recognition and remains marginal in transition policies, the report notes.

According to urban planner Jean-Marc Offner, it is "time to recognize these territories chosen by their inhabitants as strategic spaces for social, ecological and democratic transformation".

He calls on the State and all levels of local government to implement specific policies for these areas. To this end, he proposes a series of measures: structuring "living soils COPs" at the regional level to plan land use, transforming departmental roads into multimodal infrastructure, creating "peri-urban agendas" to anticipate changes, and establishing a "1% peri-urban" allocation in metropolitan budgets to finance pilot projects.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.