A new local urban plan (PLU) was submitted to the vote of the Council of Paris on Monday. The opportunity for the elected representatives of the majority and the opposition to discuss their many differences, while this plan must determine the City’s strategy in terms of climate and housing for the next twenty years.
“A historic moment“, “a crucial step” for a “city transformation“… When it comes to the new local urban plan (PLU), Anne Hidalgo does not mince words.
This urban planning document, which “fixes and imposes, on the major part of the Parisian territory, the rules of occupation and use of the ground“, was put to the vote during the Council of Paris which was held this Monday, June 5. While the last dates from 2006, this new PLU is distinguished by its mention of “bioclimatic”. A sign that it is part of in response “to the challenges that are ours“, i.e. reduction of “the impact of the climate crisis“, insisted the mayor Anne Hidalgo.
During the exchanges held during the Paris Council, two subjects crystallized the debate: the fight against global warming and the implementation of a new housing policy. Two issues at the heart of current discussions, as heat waves risk becoming the norm in the capital and 2.4 million people are waiting for social housing in France.
Among the main measures of this PLU, the “dédensification” of Paris with 40% of the public space which should be “dewatered” by 2050. But also the creation of 300 hectares of green spaces by 2040. An objective which would allow the City to meet the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO) which recommends, for each inhabitant, to have at least 10m2 of green space.To fight against urban heat islands, the PLU also plans to green roofs and facades Or the establishment of “protected green spaces”.
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The new PLU, local bioclimatic urban plan, debated and adopted by the Council of Paris • ©France 3 PIDF
A reversal of the situation for the elected representatives of the opposition who denounce the policy of concretization initiated by the City since the last PLU. “You have concreted Paris since 2006, with the promotion of an anti-ecological project […]. You have created heat islands like on the Place de la République“, thus expressed Maud Gatel, secretary general and president of the MoDem at the Council of Paris.
This criticism of the ecological balance sheet of the majority came up several times. The opposition criticizes the lack of action and realism of certain plans such as the Tree Plan, described as “failure” by Catherine Ibled (Independent and Progressives group), which plans to plant 170,000 trees in the capital by 2026, while currently no urban forest promised in 2021 has yet seen the light of day.
On the housing side, the PLU aims for a target of 30% social housing by 2030, in order to “guarantee a better social mix“. A way also to “make housing available and fight against the development of furnished tourist accommodation which is to the detriment of the inhabitants“, insisted the city councilor of Paris. This new text also provides that any office building of more than 5,000 m2 built or renovated devotes 10% of its surface to the creation of housing for a better “functional mix“. Measurements “counterproductive“, according to the elected LR Valérie Montandon, who will “discourage owners from doing thermal renovations“.
The Communists, through the voice of Jacques Baudrier, put forward “a historic PLU for public facilities“with 180 plots reserved for health, sport, culture or early childhood.
On this PLU, the Greens also expressed their satisfaction after having obtained a limitation of future buildings to 37 meters in height, the “historical height from 1977“from which the socialists then derogated up to 180 meters with the Batignolles court, a Duo tower and the Triangle tower currently under construction, recalled Emile Meunier. New regulations applauded by Emile Meunier, environmental adviser from Paris and president of the Town Planning and Housing Commission: “You have agreed to turn the page on densification, with the new PLU, nature becomes the principle and construction the exception.”
But these measures have again been criticized by the opposition, which denounces the contradiction of this plan between a declared desire to green the city, while increasing the capacity of the rental stock. “You hope to reach a target of 30% social housing, but where are you going to be able to find all this space when at the same time you announce to dedensify the city?“asked Catherine Ibled.
For Rachida Dati, mayor of the 7th arrondissement and member of the “Changer Paris” group, this PLU needs to be reviewed. “Paris, which made the world dream, has become a city to flee from“, she protested, while 120,000 Parisians have left the capital for ten years (Insee). In terms of housing, the former Minister of Justice denounced preemptions judged “excessive” of the municipality and called for accelerating renovations. Because with this new PLU, around 1,000 new reserves – “patched” plots to become social housing – have been identified, with a budget for pre-emptions which must double, from from 200 to 400 million euros The increase in the property tax decided at the end of 2022 makes it possible to finance this measure.
Finally, if the list of buildings protected by the town hall should be extended by more than 800 addresses, elevations will remain possible in the widest streets. Rachida Dati denounced the 1,500 elevations allowed by the Parisian left since the adoption of the current PLU in 2006, which have “contributed to the disappearance of hollow teeth and our suburban heritage“. With these measures, the executive will be able to “densify more“, dreads Jean-Pierre Lecoq (LR), while the 3.8 million m2 built over the past twenty years have “saturated and mineralized the city“, laments Pierre-Yves Bournazel (Horizons).
At the end of the evening, the text was finally adopted in its initial version. A victory made possible in particular by the alliance made beforehand within the left, between socialists, communists and ecologists. Good news for Emmanuel Grégoire, first deputy to the Paris City Hall in charge of urban planning and architecture, who described this PLU as “fundamental act” for the transformation of Paris. This new PLU will only come into its final version at the end of 2024 or the beginning of 2025 following a public inquiry.
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