Amiens (FR)

How can the site contribute to the productive city?

The historic industrial zone of Montières in Amiens is a monofunctional space created by urban zoning. If its original industrial vocation has gradually evolved towards artisanal, service, business or leisure activities, the closing and departure of businesses has left a lot of wasteland (30 ha). The management, temporary and long-term occupation and ultimate reconversion of this area are major urban issues. Montières –located close to the centre of Amiens, the suburbs and the banks of the Somme– encourages thoughts on mixed use. This in turn brings up two major questions: how to live in a production area and how to assure the maintenance, development and arrival of activities while at the same time opening up the site to other functions, particularly residential?

City strategy

Despite having recently lost its status as regional capital the Amiens Métropoloe has to strengthen its position in the greater Paris basin by affirming itself as a “fertile city”. A territory of living and daily commuting, the city has to fine-tune its organisation in order to preserve the quality of life and meet the needs of its inhabitants. The city must provide the conditions for a balance between residential, economic and commercial development, enhanced accessibility and intermodality while at the same time preserving those amenities that have granted it the status of “life-size city”. Its development tends to revolve around the river, which is responsible for such urban problems as the reconstruction of the city into itself, but also allows the city to be part of a network of projects on a scale with the Somme valley.

Site definition 

The study site is the Montières business zone, a monofunctional site located along the river and made up of large industrial and commercial areas. One of them, the Cosserat factory, is going to be reconverted, bringing up the issues of programme diversity and the environment. The emergence of new business to the west of the city centre also raises the question of the in-between, particularly the area to the east of the business zone (along the banks of the Somme, between the city centre and Cosserat) and its southern edge (the Sully site: between the old factory and the suburb of Hem). The issues posed by two sites are characteristic of these sectors: the Step and Orion abandoned sites on the one hand, and the Espace Alliance and Immochan site on the other. These are the two project sites proposed by the community.

How is Production Considered in the Urban Diversity Program?

Water resource is at the origin of the development of two activities that have today almost disappeared but have profoundly marked the Amiens territory: market gardening (floating gardens) and the textile industry. Today, this resource is being reconsidered in terms of food self-sufficiency, cycles and short circuits (production and distribution) or energy independence. In addition, the natural and architectural heritage of the valley is the foundation for new developments. Even if there are already real tourism assets (an exceptional location close to Paris, the Somme bay and historical Second World War sites or then the quality of the built environment twice recognized by UNESCO), the city is seeking to increase its attractiveness mainly for short holidays and business tourism. For that, Amiens is counting on the notion of “life-size city”, which is based on its natural heritage: the Somme, the floating gardens and the bicycle route. The Amiens Métropole Pact for Employment and Innovation describes an innovative urban schema for the deployment of clusters along itineraries near the river. This urban strategy must extend the energy of the city centre particularly to the west and the Montières zone, a monofunctional space where existing activities and ecosystems need to be preserved and gradually hybridized with new, compatible functions. The continuity of urban and natural spaces and quality of the itineraries should guide a project structured around points of intensity and shared public spaces.

Aerial view of St-Aragone island

Cosserat factory

Orion silos

Immochan Site