Restructuring of Peri-Urbanization around Railway Stations in Some French Urban Areas

• Published in: Athens Journal of Architecture (online) 2018-04, Vol.4 (2), p.191-216
• Main Author: Benaiche, Anissa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2407-9472; 2407-9472
• DOI: 10.30958/aja.4-2-3

The continuation of peri-urbanization in France (particularly in metropolitan urban areas) is at the origin of some urban dysfunctions. This situation leads us to reflect on the spatial structuring of peri-urbanization in relation to sustainable development. Current reflection focuses on the coherence urban planning/ transportation, which allows slowing down the urban dispersion phenomenon by encouraging urban concentration around railway stations. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to verify the tangible aspect of this reflection upon the three metropolitan urban areas of Pays de la Loire region (West France): Nantes, Angers and Le Mans. In order to know if railway stations could become dense clusters, the methodology is concentrated on the morphological study of communes served by a railway station. The principle tool used is the reading of some urban planning documents: Local Urban Development Plan and Land use plan. This study leads initially to detect realities and local practices with regard to the coherence urban planning/transportation. It reveals secondly that railway stations, in peri-urban space, don't offer the same potentialities and strategies of development. Indeed, there is a plurality of strategic profiles: communes without strategies and without projects, communes with a strategy for housing, communes with a strategy for employment, communes with a project articulating urban development and displacements.