Le Champ de Manoeuvre – Building a natural city together
Living in the forest… in the city.
What might sound like a utopia is in fact a forward-looking project for the Champ de Manœuvre in Nantes, developed since 2016 by Ateliers 2/3/4/, coordinating urban planner, with Atelier Georges, Artelia and Urban Eco for Nantes Métropole Aménagement.
This 50-hectare former military wasteland, located close to the Erdre valley and which wasn’t accessible to the public for many years, boasts a wide variety of natural spaces. The aim of the project is to use gentle densification to define the conditions for maintaining natural ecosystems within cities, but also to generate a different relationship with nature, by establishing a relationship between the scale and extent of these spaces.
More specifically, the Champ de Manœuvre needs to be managed and developed to make it an urban link and a place of destination, by :
– building 2,000 homes “in the middle of the woods”, scattered along the edge of the forest, between hedgerows, in the heart of clearings or within the framework of former market gardening areas.
– preserving of 23 hectares of natural areas and wetlands and opening them up to the surrounding neighbourhoods, whose residents will be able to benefit from a biodiversity reserve, play meadows, etc.
– connecting the site with its surroundings, particularly the outlying districts and the village of Saint-Joseph de Porterie, by creating a wide “Cours” to form the entrance to the new site and culminates in the new school complex and services located at the heart of the site (crèche, medical centre, etc.).
– developing this natural city with and for the residents: a phase of appropriation was implemented in 2016, during which residents were able to survey the site with ecologists and discover the future pedestrian and cycle routes.
Presented in Toulouse as part of the Toulouse Demain Forum, the project was inaugurated on 14 October 2023 in the presence of Thomas Quéro, deputy mayor of Nantes, responsible for the city, sustainable urban planning and urban projects, Catherine Piau, deputy mayor of Nantes, responsible for housing, deputy mayor for the Nantes Erdre district, representatives of Nantes Métropole Aménagement and Arnaud Devillers, Associate Urban Architect with Ateliers 2/3/4/.
Owner: Nantes Métropole Aménagement
Contracting authority: Ateliers 2/3/4/ (Architect – urban planner – landscaper) + Ateliers Georges (landscaper) + Artelia(VRD) +Urban Eco (Environment)
Credit: Simon Guesdon (photographs and videos), Martin Etienne (illustration).