2006-2016: 6 studies
- Situation and challenges for inter-communal cemeteries (2016)
- Preliminary metropolitan plan of crematoria in Ile-de-France – Initial factors (2015)
- Study looking at the strengthening and protection of the landscape and heritage of Montmartre cemetery (2013)
- Situation and future of metropolitan cemeteries: the case of the inter-communal cemetery of Joncherolles (2010)
- Situation, urban issues and development of the Paris Region Inter-communal Funerary Union (Sifurep) cemeteries (2010) + 27 booklets of monographs
- Parisian cemeteries outside Paris (2006-2014)
Since the creation of modern cemeteries in the 19th century, questions have come up concerning changes in mortality rates and the place we should reserve for the dead. Demographic variations, exposure to health risks (heat waves, epidemics, pandemics…), life-span increase, families living apart, the separation of places of work from those of leisure and retirement, changes in funerary practices with the advent of cremation…these are some of the factors which make planning ahead in this area complex.
The 6 studies undertaken between 2006 – 2016 have made it possible to identify the main trends and to establish the indicators necessary for a survey (aging, mortality and burial rates – burial, cremation – type and time-span of plots, burial methods – vaults, graves, crypts, funerary urns, ossuaries …) and to have efficient tools to hand (data tables compatible with geographic information systems making it possible to process statistical and cartographic data).
These main trends, indicators and tools have enabled comparisons to be made in order to better understand and appreciate the possible alternatives. They should allow collectivities to make medium and long-term choices, a cemetery being by its nature a place which cannot undergo rapid change.
Even though cemeteries are dominated by questions of hygiene and due respect for the dead, they are also appreciated for their calm and the quality of their natural landscape…and they cannot avoid the environmental challenges which are already influencing their management and development. Thinking of cemeteries as important environmental features has revealed the main challenges in terms of management and development: ecological management and waste management (plant and mineral…), planting strategy, making the ground more permeable, recognition and preservation of the heritage.
These studies form the basis of a shared understanding, as much in terms of taking stock and identifying best practices as of possible future development.
