Artificialization of soils in Île-de-France and new collective housing

The health crisis has, through the resulting confinement, demonstrated that today, more than ever, it is essential to rethink the City and its building stock. The crisis has not reduced the need for housing but has given rise to new needs: additional rooms allowing teleworking, outdoor spaces, revitalization of town centers, connectivity ...

At the time of recovery, it is imperative to combine the new needs accentuated by this unprecedented crisis and green growth.

To accelerate the emergence of a sustainable and resilient city, it must be (re) built because, although essential, renovating the existing fabric will not be enough.

Île-de-France, figure of excellence for the low artificialization of soils

Since the 2018 Biodiversity Plan, the French Government has set itself the objective "Zero net artificialization", also called "ZAN". It is part of an objective of neutralizing the impacts of cities on biodiversity and climate change.

A dense region par excellence, Île-de-France is nevertheless a virtuous exception in terms of artificialization of soils, as evidenced by the study conducted by the Institut Paris Région * and published in January 2020.

Thus, in Île-de-France, only 590 net hectares were consumed in 2017, corresponding to 840 artificialized gross hectares from which the 250 renatured hectares must be subtracted.

It is important to note that Île-de-France has the lowest artificialization in France with regard to the activity hosted: 133 m² were artificialised per inhabitants and employment in 2015 for a national average of 460 m² (excluding Île-de-France). -France). In contrast, the Center Val-de-Loire region artificialised 606 m² per inhabitant and employment in the same year.

New collective housing, reduction of soil artificialization and acceleration of transformations

Still according to the study by the Paris Region Institute, of the 840 hectares artificialized in 2017, only 3% were intended for collective housing against 42% intended for quarries, landfills and construction sites, 23% for artificial open spaces, 14% to activity and 10% to individual housing.

How to combine land sobriety, which is essential as an environmental imperative, and the considerable need for housing, especially in Île-de-France, a real economic powerhouse and the most attractive territory in France and even in Europe?

In addition to the issues of soil preservation and biodiversity, because it is itself often a creator of gardens and a factor of renaturation, new construction also provides answers to many issues by being a factor of cohesion and sustainability. The environmental performance of new housing meets very high standards which are further reinforced with the future RE 2020.

The construction of today and tomorrow will meet the needs of households and accelerate the transition to a carbon-free society. Building dense also means moving towards urbanization that is more sober in terms of consumption of space, thus leaving more room for nature, outside and inside the city.

For Marc VILLAND, President of the FPI IDF: “The debate around the artificialization of soils is truncated. It is urgent to demonize the city and demystify density. A paradigm shift is needed to sustainably advance our society and provide concrete responses to the needs of Ile-de-France residents in terms of housing and town planning ”.

* Source: Paris Region 2020 Institute - MOS 1982 to 2017, presented during the ZAN workshops