A large park is planned on the Fourvière hill, between the Montée de Choulans and Vaise. – E. Frisullo / 20 Minutes
- The Lyon executive wants to make the city one of the pioneers of the ecological transition, with a third of its investment budget by 2026 that will be devoted to it.
- These Thursday and Friday, the majority present the investments planned by 2026 during a river municipal council.
- Among this 1.2 billion planned, “20 Minutes” details some of the biggest issues that should change the city.
“Today, we must launch Lyon in the ecological transition and adapt the city to face climate challenges”. This Thursday, the elected officials of the city council, on the proposal of the mayor EELV Grégory Doucet, declared a “state of climate emergency” and expressed the wish to make Lyon one of the pioneers among the French cities in transition.
To do this, the majority of Lyon has planned an investment budget of 1.2 billion by 2026, of which a third is devoted to ecological transition. A loaded roadmap, prepared for several months by the majority, and on which elected officials must vote during a river municipal council scheduled to last until Friday evening. 20 minutes details some of the city’s priorities for the next five years.
Children, priority of the mandate
To make Lyon “the city of children”, the municipality has planned to devote 34% of its investment budget to its youth. Almost 300 million euros will be dedicated to the rehabilitation (thermal renovation) or the extension of 39 schools out of the current 206. In the next five years, seven new schools must also come out of the ground, three of which, hired by the former executive, are to open from the start of September and in 2022 in Confluence (2nd), in the 7th (Berthelot) and in the 8th (Duret). The other school groups are planned in the most stressed districts, namely the 7th, 8th and 9th districts.
An investment of 60 million euros is also programmed to create 24 nurseries, or about 800 cradles. “A doubled budget” compared to the last mandate of the former mayor Gérard Collomb, recalled the first assistant Audrey Hénocque, in charge of Finances. In schools and nurseries, a vast plan of revegetation will be carried out “with courtyards transformed into gardens and peaceful nearby streets”, recalled the mayor of Lyon in front of city councilors.
From street gardens to urban forests, plants in force
This is the second most important post planned by the municipality. The executive provides 152 million euros to bring “nature everywhere in the city”. Among the flagship projects, it is planned to develop 80 hectares on the Balme de Fourvière. This huge urban park will be located on the hill, in natural and wooded areas that are now unexploited, between Vaise and Choulans. A part should welcome the public from 2023-2024. The city is also planning to develop an “urban forest” on rue Bouchut in the Part-Dieu district and street gardens and shaded walks wherever possible. “5,500 trees have already been planted. And 6,500 more will be in the next season, ”says Grégory Doucet.
In the neighborhoods, at the foot of buildings, between 500 and 700 floral micro-plants, these pieces of greenery created by the inhabitants instead of asphalt, will see the light of day this year. “A plant town is also a food town,” recalls the majority, who have already planted nine orchards in the districts and provided support for the urban farm of Croix-Rousse. A house of urban agriculture should see the light of day in the 7th arrondissement.
Pedestrianization and zone 30 for a “passable” and “peaceful” city
Like the metropolis of Lyon before it, the city does not hide its desire to clearly limit the place of the car in the city. In the short term, the municipality has set itself the objective of setting up the pedestrianization of the Peninsula by 2022 under conditions which will have to be specified. This measure, which should not fail to cringe in the ranks of elected officials or among traders, will be accompanied by the “gradual” transition of the city to zone 30. “Each Lyonnaise and Lyonnais must regain a right to ‘public space’, advocates the mayor, who also plans to ‘make parking spaces for terraces and pedestrians’. Or even to multiply by four the number of bicycle parking spaces.
A colossal envelope for the projects of the inhabitants
This is one of the most innovative measures. By 2026, 50 million euros will be devoted to the participatory budget imagined by the majority. Clearly, this envelope will be dedicated to projects carried out in the neighborhoods by the inhabitants. Half of this amount will be allocated to actions that the residents wish to carry out and which will be submitted to the vote of the inhabitants. The other half will concern projects that residents can bring to light in places identified by the city. “We must rely on the expertise of our inhabitants,” said Grégory Doucet.
These projects that will make debate or talk about them
Several topics are listed in the majority roadmap but have not yet been detailed. Among them, the mayor is planning a popular summer festival to “celebrate the water”, with, among other things, a carnival and water sports. The details of this event should be clarified in the coming months according to the town hall, which will also have to decide on an important cultural file: the future of the Guimet museum. The Dance Workshops project, carried by the former majority in this place located towards the Tête d’Or park, was abandoned and moved to the 8th arrondissement, near the Maison de la danse. The Guimet museum, unoccupied for many years, will not remain abandoned, assures the town hall, which is working on its reconversion in conjunction with the mayor of the 6th district and the assistant for Culture.
On the educational level, an important issue, addressed during the municipal campaign, should resurface. That of the school rhythms on which the town hall wishes to reflect in the next two or three years. It also wishes to open schoolyards outside of school time at this time, according to modalities that also remain to be defined.