2023-10-30 10:10:36
The ville would it have become a necessary evil? Since the health crisis which highlighted all the faults of urban life at a time when we might no longer enjoy any of its advantages, the disenchantment between the French and the city has never been so strong. Certainly, the great aspirations at the start for the countryside have not materialized in most cases but dissatisfaction is brewing. To find out for sure, the Quartus group, which defines itself as an “urban designer”, commissioned a qualitative study with 1,500 people from BETC last December in order to take stock of this disenchantment and foresee avenues for the future. .
“We wanted to launch this study at this rich and special moment, underlines Emmanuel Launiau, president of the Quartus group. We were emerging from the Covid crisis, the ecological challenge was becoming a reality for everyone and the economic crisis was here. This is a pivotal moment where we need information to help us do our job, often stigmatized or caricatured, in this city that no longer inspires dreams.” And the study kept its promises, confirming certain intuitions or long-established avenues but also bringing real surprises.
Beautiful buildings reserved for the rich
We learn in particular that 76% of respondents fear that the city will become stifling due to global warming or that 67% of French people declare themselves to be eco-anxious. Worse still, the city is seen as a place widening inequalities, particularly due to real estate prices. No less than 80% of respondents believe that beautiful buildings are reserved for the rich. As for living together, it is also seriously damaged: the French readily admit that the less they see their neighbors, the better off they are. They are as follows: 72% consider anonymity to be a good thing, qualifying it as a form of freedom.
“Despite all these negative aspects and this rejection, this study is also a call to make the city differently, a city that responds to current issues, believes Christine Leconte, president of the national council of the order of architects. We must find meaning in the city, put architectural quality into density and rediscover what common space is. There is undoubtedly something to do in the garden, which 70% of respondents are ready to share. The opportunity may be to bring back to our cities more varied types of housing with adjoining houses, pedestrian alleys, terraces and stacked gardens in particular. “The city of the future does not exist, we simply have to find the future of the city.” she emphasizes.
“In the city, the stock of all buildings is much greater than the flow of new constructions, recalls the architect and urban planner Alexandre Chemetoff, the city of tomorrow will therefore look a lot like the one we live in now. What has degraded the image of the city are these neighborhoods where architecture and town planning have been mistreated and where housing that is neither livable nor enviable has been created. We need to find a situated architecture, by creating pieces of the city and putting the quality of housing at the center.”
Cocoon and health
Because if the city is currently perceived as a hostile environment, housing is more than ever a cocoon. A place that protects us, where we can work remotely and which we want to personalize. “This study confirmed the need of the French to reconnect with nature, which includes the green spaces of their homes, explains the president of Quartus, Emmanuel Launiau. This is the first time that they have clearly said that they are ready to reduce their interior surface area in favor of more exterior greenery. But the biggest surprise concerns the French’s expectations for healthier housing.” In fact, 70% of them are increasingly concerned regarding the impact of their housing on their health. A strong lesson which will push the developer to launch next year the construction of a “demonstrator” which, on the basis of specialist advice, will foreshadow what a healthy habitat can be.
On the other hand, it is a safe bet that Quartus will focus less in the future on shared spaces (reception kitchen, common apartment bookable to receive a passing guest, common room, etc.) which are currently on the rise. Apart from the garden, the French obviously don’t want one: only 11% of them dream of a coworking space or a guest room in their co-ownership. There’s also no point in betting too much on ways of using housing that would erase property ownership: the study confirms the attachment of the French, including young people, to completely traditional ownership.
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