Bondy

How can the site contribute to the adaptable city?

The site extends along two transport infrastructures: Canal de l’Ourcq and the former Route Nationale 3 today Avenue Gallieni) which link Paris to Meaux and the “Wider East”. These two infrastructures are currently under consideration for urban regeneration projects in the towns they pass through. The introduction of the “T Zen 3” BRT bus service linking Paris to Livry Gargan, delivered by CG93, will lead to a complete remodelling of the Avenue by 2020, notably with the demolition of the road bridge at Bondy. There are currently numerous urban projects for the banks and surroundings of Canal de l’Ourcq at the scale of the Est Ensemble Conurbation, between Pantin and Bondy and beyond. Finally, the arrival of the M15 Metro line at Pont de Bondy (in 2025), interconnecting with the “T Zen3” and the existing T1 tramline give this site a new territorial embeddedness and strong development potential. This site, currently occupied by several departmental scale furniture companies (the avenue here is popularly called “furniture road”), domestic appliance stores, car dealers, various small shops on the ground floors of buildings for renovation, and fast food outlets, form a retail strip which is set to change under the impact of these ongoing projects. The Municipality is therefore looking for process-projects capable of involving all the stakeholders, private and public, around a vision.

City strategy

1. To develop interconnections with this part of the former RN3 particularly its North/South component,to enhance integration between Avenue Gallieni, the canal and the town as a whole.
2. To create a town centre dynamic with the aim of extending the town centre and the Pasteur/Gallieni sector to the canal and beyond.
3. To envision the gradual evolution of the commercial fabric through hybridisation with new housing programs and to identify economic potential.
4. To imagine how commercial activities can take advantage of the new urban mobilities (T1, TZEN3 and M15) and the landscape qualities of the canal.
5. To design a public square, combined with small amenities, to connecting northern and southern banks of the canal. To improve the links between the town centre and Avenue Gallieni.
6. To develop an urban project that will link coherently and pragmatically with the land structure changes and apply it in a document that takes the form of a roadmap along with a toolbox, which can be used to implement coordinated actions as opportunities arise with EPFIF.

In order to control change on the site, the Municipality has established a reinforced planning pre-emption area, created two planning adjournment areas, has already grasped land acquisition opportunities and has established monitoring with the Île de France Public Land Establishment.

Site definition

The site is characterised by the presence of Canal de l’Ourcq and the former RN3, which split and divide the town of Bondy. The northern edge consists of areas of detached housing, apartment block estates – some of which are being renovated – amenities (a nursing school, a retirement home, Jean Verdier Hospital) and activities linked with the presence of the canal (building material storage, cement works, etc.). There is little communication between here and the town centre to the south, even in terms of day-to-day operation. The construction of ZAC des Rives de l’Ourcq (11 ha – 1300 dwellings + businesses and shops) near the cement works, planned for completion in 2020, marks the first stage in the reclamation of the canal at this northern edge. Despite its fine landscape qualities (avenues of poplars, wide views and open sky), Canal de l’Ourcq remains a confiscated space because of its functional uses (cement works, back office) and is invisible from the town. Its original technical design forms a topography that separates it from the urban fabric; the road crossings distance the “town banks” from the canal banks. Access to the canal remains concealed and its public use is primarily confined to cycling, which leads to conflicts of use with pedestrians. Nestled between the canal and the former RN3, a series of commercial warehouses, car parks, converted former townhouses and a few detached houses built between the wars, form a composite and distended landscape with its back to the canal. To the west, Conforama, one of that company’s most profitable outlets, constitutes a commercial “driver”. Darty has a store here, and this is also the location of its original head office. To the east, the municipality is currently looking at redeveloping Pasteur Gardens. The avenue has a markedly highway appearance (road bridge, hanging road signs, concrete central reservation, etc.), which should be removed by the introduction of T ZEN3.
On the southern edge, the urban fabric becomes tighter and constitutes the northern boundary of the historical centre of Bondy. Several apartment block projects (6/7 storey) with ground floor commercial premises are currently planned for 2006-2018, and should begin the urban reclamation of the avenue.

Future of the site in relation to the site family and Adaptability

1. Numerous changes to come because of “public” involvement: demolition of the road bridge, BRT, regrading of the former RN3, Grand Paris Station at Pont de Bondy, Urban Renovation Programme on the northern districts and town centre, ZAC des Rives de l’Ourcq.
2. Metropolitan scale infrastructures, which are discordant with the local scale and, from an urban perspective may seem like a constraint, in particular the former RN3 and the motorway intersection, but which need to be exploited as catalysts for the urban scheme.
3. A complex land structure which will need to be articulated with the urban project in an intelligent, subtle and evolving way.
4. A land economy characterised by high land prices, which could block project momentum but is not insurmountable provided that it is taken into account.
5. Long-term transformation accompanied, for example, by temporary and playful activities and initiatives that will bring the project to life.
6. Innovative urban forms that will work with the constraints of the site and the phased nature of the project (e.g. as above, temporary uses…).
7. A collective reclamation that will uncover the canal and its banks for shared use.