After 15 months of reflection, consultation and studies, the city and the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg wish to “inject” an additional 44.7 million euros (8.3 million for the city and 36.4 million for the Eurometropolis) for the projects of the future Citadelle, Starlette, Coop and Rives and Port du Rhin districts. Neighborhoods in the making spread over 74 hectares located roughly between the Citadel park and the banks of the Rhine, and will welcome 7,500 new inhabitants.
An additional cost justified by the “reorientation” of the initial project launched in 2014, necessary, assure the new management teams of the two communities, to meet the ecological, social and economic challenges. It is also an opportunity to be “a model” and sometimes even to “experiment” with “low carbon” solutions, while juggling between “meeting the need for housing without artificializing the soil and urban sprawl and forging links between the inhabitants,” explains the ecologist mayor Jeanne Barseghian. “Livable and pleasant neighborhoods, planted to the maximum where 2,000 trees will be planted or even see the creation of two new parks and three walks. On the construction side, priority is given to biosourced materials, especially in the northwestern part of the Citadelle district where the land will remain virgin.
Priority is given to the living environment of future inhabitants, to economic, social and cultural life. For this, the number of dwellings has been reduced from 44,000 to 3,700. The banks, the relationship with water, whether canals or the Rhine, highlighted and delivered to walkers. The opportunity also to highlight “the cross-border dimension of this major project” assures the mayor, and to make the connection between these new spaces and the historic district of Port du Rhin to the border town, Kehl.
“Not a bedroom community”
While some projects have already emerged, particularly in the Coop sector, there is still much to do. Basically, it is always a question of creating new housing, “social” or affordable, that is to say with controlled rents”, accessible to all, reconciling ecological issues. But it is also a question of creating real living areas and not of a “dormitory city” as hammered out by the mayor. Observation is made, according to the SPL Deux Rives which worked on the modifications to be made on the four districts in question, of a real deficit of public service, shops, places to live and meet.
Also, the “reorientation” provides for several school facilities, nurseries, early childhood homes. In the Coop district, a multipurpose room will be installed in the small room of the Wine Cellar from 2023. The objective is to accentuate the link between this new district and the inhabitants of the historic Port du Rhin district. But still a media library, spaces for artistic practices and a one-stop shop for public services, delivered around 2026. Extracurricular spaces will be backed by schools in the Starlette districts (2025) then in Citadelle and Rives Port du Rhin, in connection with the construction of schools. Two early childhood homes, in Starlette then another in Citadelle, will be created as well as a new gymnasium.
It remains for the two communities, the city and the Eurometropolis, to vote on this investment of nearly 50 million euros during their next respective councils, scheduled in a few days.