The scene takes place on Friday January 19, on the ground floor of the Benoît-Frachon municipal space, in Vaulx-en-Velin (Rhône). Twenty-three students from a preparatory course (CP) class at the Jean-Vilar school crossed Avenue Maurice-Thorez to reach, with their two teachers, the premises of the Grand Projet de ville.
The “GPV” has become a very popular place, both a control station and an information site for the large-scale urban renovation undertaken in the city of the Lyon suburbs. In a meeting room, the children are placed in a circle around a map of their neighborhood laid flat on a table. At the invitation of teachers and a facilitator, they locate their buildings, the school, the paths taken to get to the new Leonardo da Vinci media library. Little fingers explore the Mas du Taureau, an emblematic district of the region. ” Oh yes ! This is my home”says a boy, before showing the Lenin Walk, which leads from his home to the school.
Throughout the session, the teachers place colored elements on the plan. The geometric figures represent new buildings, a covered market, a large green park, a new swimming pool and a tram line which will cross the entire neighborhood, with a stop planned very close to the school. So many elements which allow us to visualize the transformation of the district, scheduled until 2030.
The children understand that a dilapidated building, which they nickname “the favelas”will disappear from the landscape to make way for new housing. “You will have to get used to the work. We will have to be careful, a lot of things will change”, explains with infinite patience Julien Foix, school teacher. CP students are part of the generation who will experience at the forefront an urban operation unparalleled in its dimensions.
The Mas du Taureau district is in fact preparing to experience – in unprecedented proportions in the history of urban politics – a series of works, demolitions and reconstructions, creation of public spaces and renovations of schools. The project is part of the New National Urban Renewal Program, planned from 2014 to 2030. It involves building 1,300 new housing units and rehabilitating 2,400 old ones, but also creating a 2-hectare green park, preserving the existing trees, in accordance with the (revised) eco-district label.
The renovation also plans to move the twice-weekly market and add a covered hall. But also, and above all, to run a new tram line, with two stops planned at Mas du Taureau. The work has started. Trenches are dug, pipes are brought in. Palisades surround the machines and construction bases. Signs, information sheets on Bus Shelters and municipal decrees are popping up in all the sectors concerned. The future T9 tram line must be put into service in 2026. It will connect Vaulx-en-Velin to Charpennes station in Villeurbanne, allowing a connection between the university campuses of the two cities and fluid access to the center of Lyon and its stations. and its activities.
You have 75% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.