The road network at the heart of the conurbation - Metropolitan boulevards, a transformation underway - Summary of workshop 28 May 2015

Metropolitan boulevards, a transformation underway
The study on the road network at the heart of the conurbation began in mid 2012. It is lead by Apur in partnership with the Department of Infrastructures and Development -DRIEA, The Grand Paris Express company -l-SGP,  the City of Paris, the Departmental Councils of  Val-de-Marne,  Seine-Saint-Denis and Hauts-de-Seine, the Ile-de-France Transport Syndicate and the Regional Council of Ile-de-France.
Phase 1 dealt with a shared diagnosic while Phases 2-3 proposed a hierarchical road system,  analysed dysfunctional aspects and identified the exploratory projects and approaches to ways of forming connections. The latter phase of the study included workshops on prospective planning which brought the key development managers, administrators and players together around specific themes: urban logistics,  road access to stations, the metropolis’ main road and boulevard network. 
In May 2015 the workshop on metropolitan boulevards brought together the study’s partners: managers of main roads in the heart of the conurbation, the Departmental Council of  Val-d’Oise, town councils and project supervisors, who addressed the issue of transforming the large historical roads.
These old routes today play a major role as levers in the reorganisation of the territory and building the metropolis’ identity. The redefinition of these large public spaces, which have for a long time been effected by road developments or become run down, is today underway thanks to the impetus of transport and urban projects.
All participants agreed, taking particularly the Boulevards RD906,  RD5, RN2,  the ex RN3 and the Avenue du Parisis as examples, that a sectoral approach towards the metropolitan boulevards should not be pursued but that a transversal and renewed approach, shared by all stakeholders, was needed. Multidisciplinary teams and integrated approaches such as organising workshops and public debates could make the network legible through working on the development of public space and the densification of adjacent areas and also a certain collective coherence and repossession which could lead to new uses being invented by the inhabitants and economic, community and cultural players.

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    The road network at the heart of the conurbation - Metropolitan boulevards, a transformation underway - Summary of workshop 28 May 2015

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