Bassens / Bordeaux Métropole (FR)

Urban City Strategy

The project site area, between the limestone plateau and the alluvial plain raises questions about the role of the river in creating a new territorial intelligence and new links between environments.
The challenges of programmation of use and mobility must be defined, in terms of revitalization and interface, in order to enhance and connect ecosystems evolving in parallel on the site.
A work on the theme of the living city, as a composite city, should therefore make it possible to initiate the setting in spaces and temporalities of new economic, ecological and energy challenges, in a human and sensitive strategic approach.

Site Definition

Bassens is the last dense city north of the Bordeaux metropolis. Extending over more than 1000 hectares, it marks the end of the slope of the right bank of the Garonne.
The topography of the area, as well as the presence of the Bordeaux–Paris high-speed trainline (LGV: ligne grande vitesse), constitute physical boundaries that separate the town into two parts:
- A lower part, the industrial–dockland area, which stretches along the river for more than 4km.
- An upper part, a populated plateau, which develops in the middle of green spaces and natural areas.
Crossing this boundary from the populated plateau to reach the river banks is one of the main challenges for the city of Bassens.
New uses will be developed in connection with the river, in a concern of valorization and preservation.
The hybridisation of the territory, considered on the one hand as an entrance to the city and on the other hand as its limit, should more generally allow the creation of a new coherence including the industrial-port ecosystem.

How Must Metabolism and Inclusivity Be Developed and Connected?

How can the city be made more accessible? How can it be made more animated? How can it be shared?
The challenges of programmation of use, with regards new ways of understanding, linking and adding to existing urban logistics structures must be considered, in terms of facilities, gathering together and exchange.
The industrial–dockland ecosystem contrasts with adjacent ecosystems, such as that of the residential town, and must be rethought in terms of interaction and amenity.
Spatial multifunctionality must redress years of urban zoning that neglected social, geographic and landscaping contexts, and more generally the possible connections between different environments.
Consideration of daily transport, both for individuals and for business, must also be put at the centre of the reflection.
Relevant solutions regarding the performance of the region and the involvement of new users are requested, taking into consideration any possible consequences on the human and the natural environments impacted which are already present on the site.
In an evolving economic ecosystem, looking for new connections, how can a new diversity also be created, bringing together existing conditions and increasing the capacity of existing urban infrastructures?
How can the area juggle economic and urban development, climatic risks and challenges, transform itself, renew itself and reply to the various issues of biodiversity, resilience and adaptation?
What might be the motors for a participative diversity and decisive redynamisation for our study site, and how can they be made to work together, taking into account the logistic and economic constraints of the industrial–dockland zone?