Housing and Urban Regeneration Policy in France - a Journey

Members of the Viennese City Council Committee for Housing are provided with annual excursions that should help them get to know problems as well as innovative developments in other European countries and obtain stimuli for Vienna's housing and urban development policy.

The field-trip 2007 led to the cities of Paris and Lyon and their hinterland. Because of her good contacts to France, which have been developed and deepened first and foremost during the exchange project "Paris meets Vienna", as well as because of her language competence, Heidrun Feigelfeld of the SRZ was assigned the job to compile the program of the visit, establish contacts and compile information material in cooperation with the office of the Executive City Councillor Dr. Michael Ludwig and Dr. Wolfgang Förster of the MA 50 "Vienna Housing Research", and subsequently led the journey from September 23rd to 27th as coordinator and interpreter and compiled a short memorandum for the Council Committee.

The party was comprised of the Executive City Councillor for Housing, Housing Construction and Urban Renewal, two non-executive councilors, members of the Committee of all fractions, two district mayors (of the 11th and 17th district), representatives of "Wiener Wohnen" (Vienna Housing) and of "Wohnbauforschung" (Vienna Housing Research) and staff of the councillor's office.

In all cities there were on-site surveys, in connection with presentations and discussions with the responsible people both political and administrative. In Paris, the main destinations were the big inner city development area Rive Gauche, the suburban remodeling project Porte Pouchet and the urban regeneration area Le Marais.

The explosive state of problems and the extensive local efforts in districts with large suburban housing estates in the Parisian 'banlieue' (community of La Courneuve, appr. 5 km north-east of Paris) and the Lyon region (Vénissieux, Les Minguettes complex) could be discussed in situ. Destinations in Lyon city were older ideal examples of urban renewal (Etats-Unis Garnier, Villeurbanne Gratteciel) and brownfield-renewal (Lyon Confluence, with coop himmelblau's construction site of Musée des Confluences).