Rennes, France
The control of urban space

Summary

The City of Rennes has demonstrated more than 20 years of determined planning policy aiming to control the spatial development of the conurbation. To further its efforts, an Urban Project was adopted. This involves an architectural control policy, based on tight collaboration with architect-planners, on reclaiming the city's natural spaces and on increasing the open space heritage. Each development operation is designed with a view to integrate open space as fully as possible so that the inhabitants can maintain a link with nature. A differentiated management of the green heritage has been developed in order to optimise its treatment. Above all, Rennes intends to reclaim the city for the city rather than tolerating rampant urbanisation.

Objectives

To reinforce the control of the process of geographical expansion of the city through a flexible planning policy. To be vigilant about the architectural quality of the planning and buildings. To enhance natural open spaces in the city, to integrate them upstream in town-planning operations and extend their area. Briefly, to improve the life of the inhabitants by offering them a quality life setting.

State of the project

Numerous town-planning and green space development operations are under way.

Context

As the historic capital of Brittany, situated between the North and South Breton coasts, Rennes is a dynamic conurbation both in demographic and economic terms (with a rate of growth maintained over the last 20 years). The development of the conurbation relies on a university welcoming over 50,000 students, the Rennes-Atalante urban research centre and a high quality industrial fabric. Furthermore, the city makes the most of quality of life and cultural tourism issues.

One of the special features of the city is that it has a long tradition of planning which not only checks the urbanisation process but also helps to preserve and manage its extensive open spaces. Urban planning policy enabled Rennes to avoid the creation of urban sprawl, the City being bounded by a ring road and surrounded by a green belt. Today, Rennes' objective is to make a town within a town, to take account of and rehabilitate what is already there, especially in the current operations of town planning and open space development. For these, the City has made the political choice of improving the quality of life for its inhabitants by offering them a harmonious living environment that keeps them in touch with nature.

Strategy

In 1991, the City of Rennes adopted an ambitious Urban Project. It effectively planned the evolution of the City over 20-30 years by providing overall coherence to short, medium and long term projects. The Urban Project also included a qualitative objective that went further than traditional town-planning: to create an urban and architectural culture through operations carried out on each area and to offer quality public natural areas. This planning device forms part of the approach of the Conurbation Project selected by the District (31 municipalities), undertaken by the Urban Planning Agency which has similar objectives.

Activities

The Urban Project owes its coherence to the overlaying of 3 networks: the urban composition, the blue and green city, and public space and urban travel. The development operations being proposed are required to help reclaim urban forms, notably through the enhancement of the City's natural assets. Two strong projects provide a structure: the New Cultural Equipment (Brittany Museum, library and science centre) and the VAL (Light Automatic Vehicle), a means of public transport on a dedicated lane.

Rennes' speciality is in seeking to exercise control over everything that is being built. The Planned Development Zone (Z.A.C.) tool was specifically developed for this purpose (22 ZACs in 1998). The city has reinforced the partnership between the stakeholders of urban development to control costs and gain maximum quality in environmental and architectural terms. Thus the City made use of several architects-planners. There is frequent consultation with the inhabitants on the development of outdoor spaces. The urban planning information centre which was opened in 1994 is a space for information, training and debate for the people of Rennes. In most of its development operations, the City gives greater importance to the link with nature and the notion of "block cores" that consists in aligning built areas with the street and developing the protected spaces at the back.

The other distinctive feature in Rennes is its involvement in a more ecologically conscious maintenance of open spaces. For each of seven categories of spaces classified according to their characteristics, specific maintenance techniques have been developed which define a "Quality Code”. This give more or less room to spontaneous vegetal growth. For instance, light treatment may be applied to rustic areas whereas prestige parks are subject to extensive maintenance. The Rennes District has taken over this approach under the name of Green Code within the framework of the written agreement signed with the State and several communes. Moreover, the City is improving its "blue corridors" -rivers and canals- by providing continuous pathways and by building footbridges.

Partners

The Urban Project was developed with all the city departments together with consultants. It brings together promoters, architect-planners and the city departments. The inhabitants are also consulted on planning operations.

Financing and resources

The development and management policy for public spaces and the green heritage makes use of a Gardens Department which employs 376 permanent staff and which includes some 30 government sponsored work contracts for the unemployed per year. Given the limited budget for this department, the considerable growth in green heritage could only be coped with thanks to the mechanisation which occurred in the 70s, and then to the implementation of the differentiated management for open spaces which took place in the 80s. Now, the operating budget for the Gardens Department represents 6% of the City budget.

Outcomes and impact

Important regeneration work on housing and public spaces has been undertaken in the Blosne and Maurepas neighbourhoods, where the "block core" concept was applied. This operation is now nearing completion. The Longs Champs ZAC has been developed in an interesting way; the land of the site has been used to organise a neighbourhood around two reservoirs that have a dual function, leisure and retaining surface water. The two reservoirs have been landscaped in a quite natural way. The Beauregard ZAC is meant to be a true green ZAC. This neighbourhood has been subjected to a pre-greening treatment. Paths have been preserved and enhanced so that they fit into the development plan for the ZAC. Finally, the Prairies Saint-Martin site is a real 10 ha green haven in the heart of the city. There, schoolchildren and walkers can discover the fauna and flora, and the inhabitants can have allotment gardens. The method used by Rennes to control the architectural quality and the integration of natural spaces has made it into a "laboratory for the city”. The importance given to architecture has provided work for a number of architects in the region, got young teams of architects known, and created a movement of architectural creation.

Taking open spaces in particular, their surface area has been increased and has risen from 60 ha in 1966 to 780 ha in 1997. The rate of increase is 5 ha per year. Natural spaces now make up 15% of the land in the conurbation, and their conservation is written into the POS [land use regulations] reviewed in 1998. The differentiated management option has enabled simultaneous developing of wilder natural spaces within the city, checking of water and soil pollution and increasing bio-diversity of flora and fauna, while reducing overall costs.

Obstacles and difficulties

- It would be good to have more involvement of the local stakeholders in the preparation phase of planning documents and more involvement of the active institutions in other fields. Informing and raising public awareness on the major issues would also be good.
- For some, the absence of an Environmental Department seems to be a stopping block to environmental policy in Rennes.
- The population had to be informed and made aware of the differentiated management policy applied to open spaces. In the beginning, the practice of light maintenance in some areas was viewed as letting go. The change of existing spaces had to be explained in order to be accepted. On the other hand, ecological organisations gave the policy their support.

Essential points

In the past, Rennes had been able to hold the city centre within a specific perimeter. The Urban Project has reasserted this strong political objective. It is not a question of freezing development of the City but of allowing it to transform while checking spatial expansion and the quality of the buildings created. Moreover, urbanisation is conceived as hinged on respecting and extending the natural spaces within the city. The Urban Project works on the voids rather than the filled spaces. It was designed as an "open book" that everyone can and should encourage to evolve. The politics of Rennes fit in with policies followed by the District which concern the quality of the conurbation's landscape structure and the road and valley networks, the enhancement of the contrasts between the city and agricultural areas, and the improvement of the quality of the points of entry into the city. Both approaches complement each other.

Additional information

Direction de l'Architecture, du Foncier et de l'Urbanisme
Direction des Jardins
Ville de Rennes
B. P. 3126
35 031 Rennes Cedex

Telephone : 33 02 99 28 55 55
Fax : 33 02 99 28 57 78

This case study was drawn from a summary report produced by the 'Association 4D' (Dossiers et Débats pour le Développement Durable [Issues and Debates on Sustainable Development]) dated March 1996: "Les villes françaises et le développement durable [French cities and sustainable development]" Summary report, case studies and data sheets. B. Duhamel, C. Emelianoff, L. Héland, C. Menneghin and J. P. Piéchaud. pp. 95-100

This case study was published in Planification urbaine et développement durable [Urban planning and sustainable development]. Contribution des agences d'urbanisme [Contribution from town planning agencies]. Habitat II. Cities Summit. Istanbul, June 1996. Fédération française des agences d'urbanisme [French federation of town planning agencies]. Volume publié par la Fédération nationale des agences d'urbanisme de l'agglomération marseillaise [the Marseille Conurbation town planning agencies]. pp. 137-141.

This sheet was also taken from the video "Quatre collectivités en quête de développement durable [Four local authorities in search of sustainable development]” from the Ministry for Territorial Development and the Environment, Nature and Countryside Directorate, November 1997.

Acknowledgements

The text for this project summary was developed by l'association 4D (Dossiers et débats pour le développement durable), Paris - E-mail:association4d@globenet.org, 1999.