Auby (FR)

How can the site contribute to a productive city?

Auby is a small industrial town (7600 inhabitants) in the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin (1,200,000 inhabitants). The town is home to the largest zinc production site (Nyrstar) in France.
Auby has many resources that contribute to a productive city: the Atelier du Livre d’art, its mining past, its historical heritage (including two UNESCO heritage miners’ estates), remarkable countryside (Deûle canal, wooded areas), quality public spaces, public facilities, local shops and a developing housing supply.
Solidarity and public policies aimed particularly at housing dignity and nutritional education seek to give the inhabitants a feeling of pride and social fairness. The navigable canal has a role to play in multi-mode mobility including environmentally friendly means of transport. A public transport line connecting Auby to Leforest train station (Paris-Lille line) is planned.

City strategy

In the 1980s, Auby began a long-term process of urban transformation, reclaiming brownfield sites, renewing the city centre and renovating or constructing social housing and public facilities (swimming pool, multimedia library, city hall, museum of rural life in an old mining pit).
The city also wants to build good-quality housing to attract new residents, particularly from the Lille metropolitan area just 30 km away (20 minutes by train). The desire for quality public space led to the publishing of a charter in 2009 that guides future development. Rail and environmentally friendly means of transport are being encouraged.
The Europan approach represents an opportunity for Auby to test the convergence of these directions on a strategic site in the city.

Site definition

The strategic site lies on city property along the Deûle Canal. On the South side of the canal, Auby has aquired a more urban character (continuous street façades, defined public squares, a mineral quality), while North of the canal the city spreads out in a park-like setting of promenades with many green spaces, businesses and abandoned industrial sites (fertilizer production plant). The two sides are connected by a road bridge to the east and will be connected by a footbridge for environmentally friendly means of transport to the West (under construction). Urban development on the North side of the Deûle will bring the canal more into the heart of the city, enhance its landscape potential and reinforce existing recreational use (jogging, cycling, fishing, boating, etc.).
The strategic site master plan is seen as an opportunity to connect the two sides of the city and the railway station, whereas the project site needs a solution that will clearly identify the South-East entrance to the city.

How is production inserted in the urban diversity programme?

Auby wants to grasp the concept of «productive city» to implement an innovative and open-ended urban planning approach in the architectural field.
In addition, the city questions the process of producing housing in the sustainable factory and the possibility of reintroducing on the study site production activities compatible with urbanity.
It is hoped that the Europan competition will provide programme suggestions and a better understanding of the study site’s future role.

The canal today - natural features

The bridge under construction - the prefiguration of the canal tomorrow

On the edges of the project - passage along the canalProject site - view from the East