A third "urban forest" of around 1 hectare will sprout from the ground at the end of 2025 at Place du Colonel-Fabien in Paris, not far from the headquarters of the French Communist Party, the first deputy mayor Emmanuel Grégoire announced on Wednesday January 25.
A promise made by Anne Hidalgo before her re-election in 2020, the creation of "urban forests", that is to say a dense planting of trees and shrubs of different heights in continuous soil, has come up against the reality of the already very crowded basement of the capital.
Initially announced, prestigious sites such as the Opéra Garnier or the Gare de Lyon were thus ruled out for technical reasons, the only construction site launched being that of the Place de la Catalunya (XNUMXth century).
Noisy roundabout, unsuitable for pedestrians and cyclists, the place du Colonel-Fabien should be transformed, with the planting of 60 to 80 trees in the ground on its western part, free of any network in its soil.
The development represents an investment of 6,4 million euros, below the two other "urban forests" in the Place de la Catalunya project (9 million euros) and in Charonne along the Petite Ceinture, in the 16th arrondissement (XNUMX million euros).
These last two should be delivered in the summer of 2024 before the Olympic Games.
In addition to the fight against urban heat islands, the project should create a "corridor of biodiversity". “We have on one side the Saint-Martin canal, on the other the Buttes Chaumont park, with more or less tree-lined avenues between the two,” said the assistant for green spaces Christophe Najdovski.
The redevelopment of the square also provides for a 60% reduction in road spaces, with a two-way cycle path that will make it possible to cycle around it, and a possible crossing in the north-south direction for pedestrians.
“On paper, there are a lot of positive things, but the mayor had promised a realization in 2020 of projects which have since been deemed unrealizable”, recalled Quentin “Divernois” (a semi pseudonym, editor’s note), member of the SaccageParis collective. .
"The concern we have is that once the inauguration is over, there will be little maintenance, when we know that nature in the city is extremely fragile and that around fifty gardeners in Paris," he added.
