On Wednesday, May 19, the France Ville Durable association organized a “Sustainable Cities in Action” day, during which the Minister of Housing, Emmanuelle Wargon, spoke. She took the opportunity to recall the upcoming publication of a reference framework on “quality housing”, currently being drafted by the architect François Leclercq and Laurent Girometti, director of EpaMarne, and announced the launch of a citizen consultation and participatory workshops on sustainable cities.

On the occasion of the “Sustainable Cities in Action” day held today, Patrice Vergriete, Mayor of Dunkirk and President of the France Ville Durable association, spoke about the publication of a manifesto aimed at clarifying the concept of “sustainable city” through four main notions: sobriety, resilience, inclusion, and creativity/productivity.

“These four concepts, which are the basis of our manifesto, are intended to be debated and questioned,” said Patrice Vergriete. “The sustainable city is a living concept, it is not something set in stone. It is something that evolves according to social contexts, societies, and technological innovations”

he said.

Sustainable cities in action: 116 demonstrators selected

The president of the association also announced the selection of 116 demonstrator projects, which can be consulted at the end of June on the portal of France Ville Durable: “In total, 130 applications for demonstrators were received, but some were discarded because the request made by the Minister (Emmanuelle Wargon, editor’s note) was to target projects at the scale of a dwelling, a building or a district. However, a number of projects could concern an entire agglomeration, he explained.

He added: “The objective is to highlight the best projects to help disseminate practices (…) The solutions of the sustainable city are already there. The challenge today is to massify them, to move from experimentation to a more massive phase of development of the sustainable city.

A citizen consultation and participatory workshops

In her speech, the Minister of Housing Emmanuelle Wargon announced the launch of a citizen consultation and participatory workshops to define a benchmark for the sustainable city. Ten consultations and ten participatory workshops should be launched from May 28.

“The demonstrators will make the link with this consultation and these workshops because we must share these 116 demonstrators with the French to make them want to live in this type of construction and neighborhoods, and allow mayors who want to build to rely on these demonstrators, “she added.

I think that it is through quality that we will revive construction” (E. Wargon)

The Minister also returned to the drafting of a reference on the quality of housing, entrusted to ‘architect François Leclercq and the director of EpaMarne Laurent Girometti. What is the objective of these guidelines? To enable developers and planners to think about the quality of use of the housing they offer, particularly in terms of surface area, volume, orientation, light and access to the outdoors.

“I am convinced that a mayor has more ease in getting a quality building accepted, with bio-sourced and less consuming materials, and tomorrow a building that will apply this optional reference, than conventional construction. I think that it is through quality that we will revive construction, “

said the minister.

Emmanuelle Wargon also said that she did not exclude drawing inspiration from this standard to define the decree that will extend the Pinel device beyond January 1, 2023, with a tax benefit at full rate for housing that will meet certain quality criteria.