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The augmented valley
Rivers as catalysts
2020
Vierzon - FR
Academie van Bouwkunst Amsterdam
Program: Landscape-led territorial urbanism
Status: Research / Master's thesis
Many medium-sized cities in France are experiencing an identity crisis compounded by economic and social fragility. Vierzon, with its 29,000 inhabitants, is a clear example. The city experienced an industrial boom in the second half of the 19th century and was severely affected by deindustrialisation in the 1970s. With the gradual departure of half its population over a few decades, the city has become significantly impoverished, socially and spatially, struggling to define and embody its ambitions within its territory.
The territory of the Cher and Yèvre valleys naturally emerged as a revitalisation area. Once historical landscapes driving urban, industrial, and social dynamics in Vierzon, these valleys are now scarcely perceptible, static, with eclectic landscapes, subject to flooding and drought risks.
This project proposes to rewild these valleys, from the upstream to downstream landscapes, including its city center, by giving more space to rivers. The vision of an enhanced valley asserts the identity of a riverine, natural, and resilient city.
Many of the territorial arguments first made here (rivers as leverage, the deindustrialised mid-sized city as design territory) continue to run through the practice's larger-scale projects.