The legacy of fifty-two rainwater management systems which are essential for fighting against flooding are also urban landscape and ecological assets.
In 2019 and 2020, Apur produced and Atlas of La Vieille-Mer rainwater management pools in Seine-Saint Denis and a study on integrating 4 departmental rain-water management basins: the Bouillards, Molette, Pont-Yblon and Coubron. This work was carried out in close collaboration with the Seine-Saint-Denis Department Council.
The Atlas permits one to identify the challenges involved when enhancing water in an urban context, on a departmental scale. It is an important tool which accompanies the Pool Investment Plan (PIB) adopted by the Seine-Saint-Denis Departmental Council in September 2018. It focuses mainly on the part of the Plan that deals with the urban and aesthetic integration of the open air pools in liaison with the municipalities involved. This study provides a wide framework in which to observe and gain urban awareness enabling one to compare situations and for the future of existing works and the place of those of the future to be put into perspective.
The more detailed study of the 4 pools at Brouillards, la Molette, Pont-Yblon and Coubron, identifies their principal challenges and potential in view of their urban integration and opening them to the general public. The proposed guidelines target a number of PIB objectives: to master overflow, to integrate cleansing systems into the town, to enhance the landscape and ecological qualities.
It endeavours therefore to reinforce local connections (sites being open to the public, increased awareness and uses), to improve access to pool areas (entrance and urban walks), to intensify the presence of nature while preserving their initial hydraulic function.
The study of the Brouillards and La Molette pools is part of the ongoing work already underway with the Department of Seine-Saint-Denis to uncover and rediscover La Vieille-Mer in liaison with the Georges-Valbon Park.
The study of the pools at Pont-Yblon and Coubron is linked to distinct sites and different urban contexts: collective housing and business zones / detached housing residential area and a rural landscape.
Together, they testify to the will to build a strong territorial framework around the hydraulic legacy and to enhance, reinforce and enrich the ecological environment, a process that is open to new forms of management and future developments.
