This Friday morning, the town hall of Lyon must unveil the last part of the Ilot Kennedy project (8th arrondissement), namely the presentation of the future sports complex which will include a gymnasium, a dojo, a climbing wall, a cycle area and a municipal swimming pool. On this occasion, the EELV mayor of Lyon Grégory Doucet spoke with the editorial staff of 20 minutes in order to discuss more broadly its action in working-class neighborhoods.
The Kennedy Block is one of your flagship urban planning projects. It will be carried out in the 8th arrondissement, yours. Why did you choose this district to set up public service teams there?
My ambition is simple: working-class neighborhoods deserve the best. The Îlot Kennedy is one of our founding projects which enshrines the ecological transition in a popular district and participates in the Lyon 2030 commitments aimed at climate neutrality. This project is the largest operation registered in the PPI (multi-year investment plan) since 60 million euros are invested in the Kennedy islet. There will be the realization of the Ateliers de la danse which is a flagship project, inherited from the previous mandate and which was initially to be at the Guimet museum. Finally, for economic reasons and in order to facilitate work with the Maison de la danse, we chose to put them back on the Kennedy block with studios and creation rooms.
There will be a new school group since the school, the last one still built on the “Pailleron” model, must in any case disappear, no longer being up to standard. And then there will be a sports complex.
This island is emblematic because it completely illustrates what we want to do in terms of ecological transition and solidarity transition. We are in a popular district, where there is a strong need for cultural and sports facilities, especially swimming pools. In this sector, there is only the swimming pool of Mermoz but it does not allow learning to swim. The idea of this project is to produce very high quality public service equipment. The message we want to send to working-class neighborhoods is: You deserve the best, like everyone else. You are part of our collective. We have already conveyed this message on several occasions, notably during the inaugurations of the Gisèle-Halimi social center and the food solidarity house (in the Mermoz-Santy district).
For you, was it one of the districts where it was necessary to intervene in priority?
We had to intervene in the school, it was necessary. The patrimonial debt that we found when we arrived forced us to act. From that moment, we launched the reflection. We tried to find out how we could combine the responses to the various needs on a large piece of land that needed to be valued since it was poorly occupied. We start with this one but it will not be the only one!
Will these sports facilities be reserved for schools and associations or will they be open to everyone?
Opening them up to associations is already opening them up to the population. We have a big lack of sports equipment in the city: swimming pools, gymnasiums, nurseries or even schools. When we open this new gymnasium, we already know that all the sports associations will ask us for slots. And we will have no trouble filling them. There is a very strong demand from all the clubs. As a father and resident of the 8th arrondissement, I can testify to this. When I take my children to handball, I am regularly and kindly challenged: “Mr. Mayor, when are you giving us a gymnasium? He’s coming!” (laughter), even if it will be necessary to wait a few years until its opening [prévue en septembre 2026].
In this sports complex, there will be a dojo and a climbing wall. You have chosen not to put yet another football stadium. Was it deliberate to favor these disciplines rather than other, more widespread ones?
Martial arts and rock climbing are very popular and widespread disciplines. Today, martial arts clubs need niches, places to practice. There is a high demand, the same as for rock climbing. Schools are in great demand to be able to practice this kind of sport which requires concentration, strength and agility. But in this sports complex, there will also be a classic gymnasium which will allow you to practice team sports such as basketball, handball, volleyball or indoor football. We have the will to meet all the expectations which are very numerous. And I’m not talking about knowing how to swim, which is a legal obligation, and knowing how to ride.
We will also have a cycle area which will be the first dedicated to learning to ride a bike. Knowing how to ride is a fundamental skill that the school must provide. But today, and Lyon is not the only city concerned, equipment for learning to ride is almost non-existent. Doing bike tricks in a yard isn’t enough. You have to learn to manoeuvre, to stop, to know the signs. The purpose of this circuit will be to teach children how to cycle in safe conditions and to teach them how to evolve in the city.
On the pool, we will have two 25-meter pools dedicated primarily to learning to swim.
Outside of school periods, especially in summer, will this swimming pool be accessible to the general public?
We already have a lot of requests from associations to recover slots in order to be able to give lessons there. Today, we clearly have a deficit of aquatic equipment in the city. The primary purpose of this swimming pool will remain learning to swim. It is a necessity but also a legal obligation imposed on us. In summer, when it is very hot, there is the Mermoz swimming pool, which is a fun aquatic pool that is fairly well used.
In previous summers, there have been some tensions and episodes of incivility at the Mermoz swimming pool. Has it calmed down?
Yes, it has calmed down because we have put in place a number of measures, such as devices to access the swimming pool with reservation slots. When the queues are long and tempers run high, we have also made sure to have the municipal police patrol in order to calm the ardor of some.
I would like to come back to the ecological dimension of this project. Great care has been taken to produce equipment with the highest possible environmental standards in terms of construction. We have chosen biosourced materials (natural materials used locally), recycled. What is not yet extremely practiced today in the construction sector. We will also have a large part of greenery including a nature courtyard, 30% of surfaces and 470 m2 of green roof while de-artificializing the plot. We will pay particular attention to thermal insulation with a low-carbon building. On the school, 600 m² of photovoltaic roofs will be installed. The building, which will be connected to public heating, will produce more electricity than it consumes.
For you, is this a model to be duplicated elsewhere in the city?
Absolutely. But this is already what we do in other districts such as Confluence or Part-Dieu, where we have buildings of very high environmental quality. This experience, we concentrate it on the islet Kennedy but obviously, it is our way of doing the city today.
You announced that you were ready for a second term, have you already targeted one or more places in Lyon where you could duplicate the concept of the Kennedy block?
Yes, there are other places…
Which ?
(Laughter) I’m not going to reveal everything to you right away (laughter). What is certain is that the Kennedy block is a project that I love. And it is not the inhabitant of the 8th arrondissement who says it but the mayor of the city. I am very proud of this project. In popular neighborhoods, we will send the following message: We bring you the best possible equipment. We bring you very qualitative because you deserve it. Too often, for too long, second-class equipment has been brought into working-class neighborhoods. However, precisely, in the popular districts, one must make the effort to bring the best equipment. For me, this is essential. And I’m all the more proud of it that we manage to combine several uses.
Do you have the impression that not enough has been done for working-class neighborhoods during previous mandates?
There is an undeniable lack of equipment in the city. We also have gymnasiums that need considerable investment. Moreover, we have the largest investments in sports equipment that the city has ever known since we are investing more than 100 million euros in the rehabilitation of existing public equipment. There has been a lack of investment in the maintenance of this equipment which is no longer in a condition to provide the desired services. In working-class neighborhoods, yes, there is a deficit, even if there have been great achievements such as the Diagana hall in La Duchère. I’m not going to say that before us, nothing was being done. This is not the case. But we need to intensify our efforts and go much further. What matters to me is to bring the best equipment because the people in these neighborhoods deserve it.
You live in the 8th arrondissement, aren’t you afraid that you will be criticized for prioritizing it to the detriment of other districts?
Lately, I have inaugurated many schools in all the districts of Lyon. Some might say that I spend my time in the 7th, but a lot of construction is done there. Some might think that I spend a lot of time in the 9th because we have many school projects, and there are needs in this sector. The 7th, 8th and 9th arrondissements are, demographically speaking, the most dynamic. And as there was land available, there were many achievements. I remain the mayor of Lyonnaises and Lyonnais and of all the districts so let’s continue to take care of Lyon!