This report completes the series of diagnostic studies focusing on the Olympiades-Villa d’Este site which forms part of the Grand Urban Renovation Project - GPRU – for the peripheral areas of Paris, whose aim is to define an intervention strategy. The report presents the outcomes of the workshop “Computerised management of cities” run by the DESS – Diplôme d’Etudes Supérieures Spécialisées - of the French Urbanism Institute 2001-2003, under the direction of Luc Savonnet.
The district is notable for its high number of Asian-style businesses, totalling over 65% of the shops situated within the area. The study sets out to describe the way these businesses are run, their location which spreads through the southern section of the 13th district and their impact on local urban life. Asian businesses play a key role in the economic vibrancy of the area, and constitute a veritable hub of commercial attractiveness whose effects can be felt over the whole of the Ile-de-France Region. The most urgent problems concern deliveries on roads at street level and underground, and the renovation of a number of run-down commercial sites. The issue concerning the transformation of the logistics site of the old Gare des Gobelins, which handles retail-wholesale Asian goods, is particularly urgent because a number of shop owners are wanting to move their businesses out to the inner ring of suburbs. The programmed public transport projects (extension of line 14 and a tramway on the Boulevard des Maréchaux) should not only help business but also make a significant shift in the mode of transport used between home and work. They may also strengthen the tourist trade in the district.