Aware of local authorities' common interest in the river Seine, Bertrand Delanoë, Mayor of Paris, Laurent Fabius, President of the CREA, Antoine Rufenacht, Mayor of Le Havre and President of the Municipal Community of the Le Havre area -CODAH- have united to initiate shared action on the Seine waterway, as an extension of the Grand Paris dynamic.
The three urbanism agencies, the AURH in Le Havre, the AURBSE in Rouen and the Apur have worked together to organise the first seminar called 'The Seine of the Future -Seine d'avenir-', which took place on 4th May 2010 in Le Havre. Its aim was to begin reflecting on how to achieve, through shared responsibility, the well balanced development of this territory stretching from Paris to the Seine Estuary.
With this in view the agencies produced diagnostic and problem elements on the territory around three themes: the identity of the Seine axis as a source of life, the great international, economic risks at stake and freight and passenger mobility. The Apur in particular produced socio-economic analytical maps using data from the 2006 census and problem maps of transport issues.
The seminar brought together 200 people, most of them members of all the authorities concerned as well as figures: from the economic world. It offered a context in which the necessary intense dialogue between the Government and all the local authorities of the territories involved could be reinforced, particularly on the subject of rail transport.
The next seminar is planned to take place in Rouen. By then all the agencies involved will have defined partnership work methods for the Seine waterway.