Consequence of confinement, increase in teleworking, aging of the population and need for densification: the metropolis of Rennes has carved in stone the obligation to provide all newly built housing with a balcony, a loggia or a terrace .
Since mid-January, after a modification of the local intermunicipal urban plan (Plui) adopted during a metropolitan council, each new dwelling must have a "private outdoor space" of 4 m2, an "unprecedented" measure by its extent in France, according to the metropolis.
This constraint is not restricted to residential buildings only: residences for students, the elderly or homes for young workers must also provide an outdoor space, fixed there at 3 m2, for any accommodation.
"The health context, confinement, have been there but also the development of slightly different lifestyles, teleworking", explains Laurence Besserve (PS), vice-president of Rennes metropolis in charge of planning and 'habitat.
Another reason which prompted the elected officials of the Breton metropolis (460.000 inhabitants and 43 municipalities) to take the plunge: demographic forecasts.
"The population will age: we will move towards staying at home for as long as possible, so there will be this need to have an indoor and outdoor space (...). We all know the benefits of being outside" , argues Ms. Besserve, also mayor of Betton, a town at the gates of Rennes in full expansion.
Because Rennes and its agglomeration, like many cities in the West, attracts and must respond to a strong population growth, with a forecast of 533.000 inhabitants in 2035 and the need to create 65.000 new housing units.
With the Climate and Resilience Law of 2021 and the prospect of achieving zero net artificialisation of the soil by 2050, "more and more of us will be living in collective urban form and this need for outdoor space is becoming vital", pleads the chosen one.
For the architect based in Rennes Gwénaël Le Chapelain, "we go back a little bit: we had much larger surfaces after the war, during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Gradually we nibbled, compacted the apartments, inside and outside , up to removing the balconies, for stories of economy and increase in land", recalls Mr. Le Chapelain, who considers this normative development beneficial.
"The air of time"
Among Breton property developers, this measure "formalises something that was rather in tune with the times and has been accentuated with the Covid and teleworking. The need to have outdoor spaces has been expressed a lot among customers these lately", explains Guillaume Loyer, director of promotion for Brittany and urban development of the Giboire group.
This new standard, with a "generous" surface which allows the installation of a table and chairs, will "necessarily" generate an additional cost, warns Mr. Loyer, while home ownership in the Breton capital is a subject of concern which makes regular headlines in the local media.
Sociologist Jean Viard, who has long advocated for the "right to the sun", welcomes this policy in a city "which has always been ahead of regional planning policies, for a very long time, with the concept of archipelago city" .
"We are in a society where working time does not stop decreasing, even if it risks increasing a little again (with the pension reform, editor's note), working time is 10% of life. The issue of housing is very important and expanding it outward is an extremely interesting idea,” he said.
“Everyone wants to be able to eat in the sun, to have a plant and possibly an animal”, observes the author of “Sacre du temps libre”, stressing that “a lot of elderly people never left their homes” and unfortunately no longer had any connection with the outside air.
