Saint-Brieuc

How can the site contribute to the adaptable city?

In proposing a large study area, Saint-Brieuc Municipality is raising a question of geographical scale for the implementation of a strategy of urban transformation through a new relationship between land and sea in terms of landscape, urban routes and public spaces. The overall urban and landscape vision should reinforce the heart of the conurbation and propose project processes appropriate to the town’s specific historical and geographical features: the land relief and the slopes, the protection of nature, the town’s identity and relationship to the sea, the interweaving of functions and uses, the presence of large infrastructures, the organisation of mobilities. Both strategic and operational, the ideas sought should connect several scales of consideration (from the wider territory to the local) and distinct development timeframes. The aim should also be to employ methods of intervention that reflect the diversity of the environments (dense urban, natural, harbour, maritime…) and to deploy project tools that involve the population.

City strategy

Saint-Brieuc Municipality wishes to undertake a strategic reflection on the organisation and future of this territory, underpinned by the highlighting of several geographical and cultural pairings: town land/town sea, man-made town/nature town, plateau town/valley town. In order to organise its urban, economic and tourist development, the municipality is looking to Europan for an overall vision that will notably explore the continuity of its urban and natural public spaces and the quality of the routes from the town to the sea. All this raises questions about mobility and public spaces, the possibility of projects in interstitial spaces, and a reflection on combining access to and use of the valleys with the protection of their landscape and environmental quality is.

Site definition

Historically, the town of Saint-Brieuc developed around several valleys protected from urbanisation, which form a remarkable topography and highly contrasting landscapes. The difference in elevations has led to the construction of several structures that mark the urban landscape, including the Toupin viaduct (1904) and the Gouédic viaduct (1983). Around Saint-Étienne Cathedral, the historical centre, partly rebuilt after the war, occupies a plateau demarcated by the Gouédic and Gouët valleys. The study site contains several urban and landscape entities: the station and its district (a redevelopment project in preparation, with the construction of a new bridge), the town centre (issues of heritage, upgrading or the opening of public spaces), Port Légué up to the mouth of the Gouët, and finally the Gouédic and Gouët valleys, whose wooded escarpments still bring untamed nature right into the heart of the town. Within this large study area, localised projects may be designed for several potential development sites. Two project sites are proposed for the Europan teams: part of the old centre (public spaces) and an industrial brownfield site (decommissioned former gas plant) near Port Légué.
The "town-centre" project site is defined by the SNCF railway station to the south, by the Promenades park to the west, by the Prefecture park to the east and by the rue des Trois frères Le Goff to the north. It is located next to the pedestrian town-centre where most of the shops are situated. The « Légué » project site is an articulation between the extended city centre and the harbour. It is one of the major sites that strenghtens the axis city / harbour – land / sea by Légué street in the extension of the rue des trois frères le Goff.

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

This site belongs to the thematic type called: “how to convert physical obstacles into new connections?” This question relates to the topographical complexity of the town, which is marked by several large engineering structures. However, the site raises the problem of “object versus project” in a more global way: Saint-Brieuc Municipality is seeking a strategic and territorial vision from the Europan teams, as well as a process of implementation and operational development around several potential upgrade sites. The urban and architectural proposals for these sites should be seen as triggers for a larger and more long-term change and the physical and symbolic markers of territorial recapture and reappropriation.