2023-11-13 20:04:22
It’s a distinction they would have done well without. And which should be widely debated. A reward that is surprising, as the named cities are usually synonymous with charming destinations. The Paysages de France association has just awarded, for its 2023 prize list, the “Ugly France” prize to four cities: Paris, Carnac (Morbihan), Honfleur (Calvados) and Chavelot (Vosges).
A ranking, “subjective” as the association recognizes, which was established from a single photo of a place in these municipalities. “Like every year, we simply asked our members to photograph a place that they found “ugly” in their environment. Which they did not fail to do. The photos were sorted, looked at, analyzed and, that’s it, the choices were made,” explains on his site the association which has been fighting the visual pollution of advertising billboards for years.
This is why Paris is sanctioned for its heritage enhancement due to a huge tarpaulin installed during work on the famous Place des Vosges (4th arrondissement). As is often the case during construction sites in the capital, this tarpaulin was covered by immense publicity.
“Highlight damage to landscapes”
The entrance to the town of pleasant Honfleur is “rewarded” in the “Brand Fair” category, one of the association’s fights. “Tarpaulins, panels, banners, totems, flags, take your pick, all the brands on sale! », writes Paysages de France, supporting photo. It’s a bit the same case for the Pré-Droué commercial zone in Chavelot in the category “Lots of brands, and without concessions”. Scenarios that we could unfortunately find in many French cities, bordered by their commercial zones.
Finally, it is an unfortunate alignment of plastic blocks which somewhat conceals the historic site of Menec, in Carnac, which costs it this nomination for the “Obelix 2.0 Prize”.
“Beautiful, ugly, it is of course subjective… It is up to everyone to open their eyes and take their own look at the places chosen. This is not a ranking of the ugliest cities, but here are four places in France, in four communes of France, which, for us, represent a bit of ugly France,” specifies Paysages de France, which assures having warned the mayors of this list before its publication.
The aim of this association is to “highlight attacks on our landscapes”. “But don’t worry: in most cases, the mayor can simply remedy what distorts these everyday landscapes: by establishing or modifying a local advertising regulation (RLP), by using his police power to enforce the Environmental Code or the RLP, by refusing the installation of monumental advertisements or by systematically taking the landscape into account,” she asks.
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