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- hélas adopté à Maurice- qui consiste à séparer le travail de l’ habitat, l’ habitat du commerce, le commerce des loisirs ou des services, etc., l’ aménagement mixte regroupe, à proximité les unes des autres, les diverses fonctionnalités d’ un espace social. Ce dernier devient tout à la fois lieu de vie, de travail, il réunit des offres d’ éducation, de loisirs, d’ approvisionnement et consommation, cela structuré autour d’ un espace public convivial, le tout conçu pour faciliter les déplacements à pied. Outre d’ être mixtes, il est souhaitable que les quartiers soient denses et compacts; idéalement, les usagers devraient pouvoir se rendre aux principales destinations en marchant pas plus de dix minutes de chez eux ou de leur travail.
Est-ce le modèle d’ aménagement que Landscope entend adopter sur les terres dites de Highlands? Tout à fait! Même si nous parlons là d’ une surface de 2 200 arpents, s’ étendant du Bagatelle Dam à Belle Rive, d’ Hermitage à Dagotière et Côte d’ Or. Ce n’ est donc pas qu’ un quartier d’ une ville qu’ il s’ agirait d’ assainir et de rénover; lorsqu’ on dispose d’ une telle étendue à dynamiser de manière soutenable, l’ urbanisme contemporain préconise aussi d’ utiliser la notion de transect. Pour faire simple, il s’ agit de localiser, sur des axes allant du cœur de ville à ses périphéries, les variations paysagères et de densité urbaine. Le transect est un outil de représentation d’ un espace en transformation, également un moyen de gestion des équilibres, voire de la biodiversité au sein de l’ espace urbain. Outre les cartes d’ occupation des sols et les plans des bâtiments, outils des géomètres, des notaires et des architectes, le transect contraint à appréhender la transversalité d’ une zone à bâtir. Si cela avait été fait à Ébène, au lieu de laisser tout un chacun s’ étendre selon ses souhaits, nous aurions peut-être évité la catastrophe environnementale que ce triangle est devenu.
Faute d’ urbanistes à Maurice, vous avez sollicité des étrangers … Ce n’ est pas totalement vrai de dire qu’ il n’ y a pas d’ urbanistes à Maurice. Il serait plus juste de noter que les projets de développement ne sont jamais à échelle urbaine. Ceci étant, Landscope * travaille effectivement avec une placemaking consultancy internationale, Place Dynamix, domiciliée à Dubaï. Ce sont des intervenants de cette société qui ont animé notre premier atelier de présentation du projet aux stakeholders. Nous avons également engagé des partenariats avec des services publics spécialisés de La Réunion. À proximité des stades qui seront créés pour les Jeux des îles de l’ océan Indien 2019, ce qui oriente la thématique sports de la future ville, cette dernière et les infrastructures sportives devraient se nourrir et s’ animer mutuellement.
Gérard Sanspeur, you are an economist whose work we remember – within the Freeport, the Board of Investment … Today, you seem to be primarily interested by urban development. What explains this change in priority? There is no change in priority, only a change in field of activity. As you pointed out, I am an economist. This means that when working, my primary aim is the optimal use of available resources. And yet, what do I observe once I become president of the ex-State Land Development Company in order to influence the development of 920 hectares of prime land? I note that most of the property developers’ projects are dysfunctional on economic and social levels.
What exactly do you mean? The business model of the property development is based on spreading out the residential area, comprising vast lawns that require an excessive amount of water and leads to wastage. Moreover, this living environment is laid out in such a way that interaction between neighbours, which gives rise to positive social and economic dynamic, is not promoted. The inhabitants in those residential plots are far from the workplace, schools and commercial outlets, generating traffic that exceeds any reasonable level. Living in this type of residential plot becomes taxing not only for the inhabitants but also for those bearing the consequences of such living environments: they have to bear pollution, traffic jams, water shortage and the privatisation of space.
How would you proceed if you were to choose alternative ways? This is not about promoting my own ideas, or those of X or Y. However, over the years and across a range of countries, a school of thought based on practical experiences of societal life, and concerning space planning and urban development has emerged. The Death and Life of Great American Cities, published in 1961, and written by the journalist and activist, Jane Jacobs, condemns the urban sprawl; the spreading which was encouraged in the USA due to the ease of access to motorised vehicles. This school of thought has then gained followers in Europe, notably through the Prince’ s Foundation for Building Community initiated by Prince Charles, as well as in the States, through the New Urbanism movement …
How would you describe this school of thought in a few words? In a single word: diversity. Unlike planning into zones – unfortunately the current practice in Mauritius – which consists in separating the workplace, commercial outlets, leisure and services, etc. from the residential area, mixed planning groups the various functionalities of a social environment within a space that keeps them close to each other. This hub comprises the living environment, the workplace, schooling, leisure, food and commercial outlets, all structured around a friendly public space and designed to encourage pedestrial access. Other than being diverse, the area must be dense and compact; people should ideally be able to reach the main facilities on foot within ten minutes from their residence or workplace.
Is this the planning model which Landscope will use on the plots of land known as Highlands? Absolutely! Even if in this case we are talking about an area of 2200 acres, spanning from Bagatelle Dam to Belle-Rive and from Hermitage to Dagotière and Côte d’ Or. It is therefore not just a suburb which needs to be renovated and cleansed; when we have such a big expanse to dynamise in a sustainable manner, contemporary urban development advocates transect planning. In other words, along the axes moving from the urban centre to its periphery, there needs to be alternance between urban concentration and varied landscapes. Transect planning is a tool which represents an area that is under transformation. It is also a means to manage balance, and protect biodiversity within the urban space. Other than being helpful for land and building use maps and tools for land surveyors, notaries and architects, the transept forces one to take into account the tranversality of the area to build on. If that had been done in Ebène, instead of allowing each and every one to sprawl as they wish, we would probably have been able to avoid the environmental disaster which this area is subject to.
The lack of urban planners in Mauritius has led you to recruit foreigners … It is not totally true to say that there are no urban planners in Mauritius. It would be more accurate to note that development projects are never on an urban scale. Having said that, Landscope is working with an international place making consultancy, Place Dynamix, headquartered in Dubai. The contributors from this company have animated our first project presentation workshop aimed at the stakeholders. We also engaged in partnerships with specialised public services from Reunion Island. Nearby, the stadiums that will be erected for the Indian Ocean Island Games 2019( Jeux des îles de l’ océan Indien) will make the future town a sports-oriented one. The sports facilities and the town will work together and to a certain extent interdepently.
* Landscope gère l’ activité commerciale du patrimoine foncier et immobilier de l’ Etat. * Landscope manages the commercial development of State land and property.
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