2023-11-19 08:10:12
A forest of umbrellas echoes the trees planted tightly on Place Sarah Monod. This new space inaugurated this Saturday was originally very mineral and included a lane for cars. Exit the automobile, the square is now pedestrian and has welcomed 82 trees.
“Congratulations on your bravery, and for completing the entire route in seasonal weather! greeted Emmanuelle Pierre-Marie, the mayor of the 12th arrondissement. This consultation, as part of Beautifying your neighborhood, is the very definition of collective intelligence. We created five squares, created 1,200 m of corridors dedicated to buses, created 6,000 m² of additional sidewalks, and built the first Vélorue, rue de Charenton.” In total, 174 trees were planted in the neighborhood.
The neighborhood was chosen to be the first of this experiment because it already has several shared gardens and very dynamic neighborhood associations. The Paris en Selle association had also already worked on rue de Charenton, which did not previously have a cycle path. Its transformation into a cycle street has transformed automobile traffic. “From 7 to 8,000 vehicles per day we went to 2,500” adds the elected environmentalist (EELV) of the 12th century.
“Everything we proposed was retained”
“We started from a simple observation, how to adapt the City,” recalled the first deputy mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Grégoire. It is a model of urban life that is radically changing and we are going to try to do it throughout Paris. »
Place Sarah Monod planted, it was one of the fights of Micheline Pressac, general secretary of the neighborhood council. “I joined the neighborhood council in 2001. I found this place very ugly, very mineral, with a lot of attendance because there is the chamber of commerce, schools, deaconesses next door, a lot of offices… It really had to be rethought.”
The neighborhood council has been working for months on the consultation organized by the town hall. “Everything we proposed was retained,” rejoices Micheline Pressac. She particularly welcomes the transformation of Place Dugommier, where pedestrian crossings have been made easier.
“Politics from down the street”
“It’s really the policy of the bottom of the street, of everyday life, with the objective of reducing the place of the car. 26 neighborhoods are being transformed,” explains David Belliard, deputy (EELV) to the mayor of Paris in charge of the transformation of public space.
But all this work was not done without some upheaval for local residents, particularly linked to traffic changes. “We had to adapt. Some forbidden meanings have changed their meaning. Initially, there are traffic delays before behavior changes,” describes Catherine. Next to her, her friend Isabelle assures her: she will never leave her neighborhood! “The green corridor, the Reuilly barracks and its garden, we find an incomparable quality of life there,” she concludes, enthusiastically.
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