At a time when the precepts and contours of the city of tomorrow are taking shape through calls for innovative urban projects such as “Let's invent the Greater Paris Metropolis”, thanks to XXL programs that transform real estate professionals into real urban developers, and under the influence of metropolisation, elected officials have more than ever a crucial role to play in the making of the city. In particular those at the head of the main French agglomerations to whom Études Foncières gave a voice in its latest opus. At this little game, the mayor of Nantes is doing well.
“I see the risk of standardization of cities emerging in all our cities,” Johanna Rolland explained to us. On the contrary, I want us to invent new urban landscapes in Nantes.” A vision that is reflected in the multiple projects underway throughout the Loire-Atlantique metropolis. The latest example to date: the YelloPark project.
Led by the Nantes Football Club and the Réalities group, the operation will make it possible to develop a new 40,000 seat stadium on the Beaujoire site and above all a global real estate program. The first elements of the latter include the construction of 1,500 to 2,000 homes, 50,000 m² of offices, a 25,000 m² real estate asset around sport and health, a food court, a market hall, a market hall, a residence for the elderly and a school around an urban park. Enough to contribute to the urban renewal of the large northeastern quarter of the Nantes metropolitan area. And this without communities having to spend a cent.
On the contrary, the city will recover several tens of millions of euros between the fruits of the sale of land and the urban developments assumed by the company YelloPark. “In 2017, it is no longer up to public money to finance a major stadium project”, explained Johanna Rolland during the presentation of the project. A position that contrasts radically with that of the mayors of other major French cities such as Alain Juppé in Bordeaux (public-private partnership for the construction and operation of Matmut Atlantique) or Martine Aubry in Lille (PPP for the Pierre Mauroy stadium).
And this is only the beginning: “What will make the difference between developers and investors tomorrow even more than today, what will make the difference between developers and investors, what will guide the city's choices, is very clear and I told them: architectural innovation, the integration of nature and the challenges of energy transition into projects, and innovation in the uses of buildings. It is on these criteria that we will choose the projects tomorrow.”
The 38-year-old elected official was able to defend this new vision of urban planning as president of Eurocities between 2014 and 2016. She brings it to the France Urbaine association where she co-chairs the Collège des Métropoles. And she will share it with the real estate industry as the sponsor of the 2018 cycle of the Palladio Institute, which will have as its theme... “Living in the city of tomorrow”.
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