La Rochelle, France
La Rochelle (75,000 inhabitants) is a touristic city on
the French Atlantic coast that aims to become a slow town, meaning that
80% of the streets will be limited to a speed of 30 km/h in the coming
years. The Living Streets offer the opportunity to experiment, to test
life without cars and imagine a different use of public space. With this
initiative, La Rochelle is using bicycles as a central tool, as it is
not only seen as a transport mean, but is also used as a voluntary
behaviour change factor.
Increase home-to-school and school-to-home travel by foot and by bike: The Children’s Street
The Pierre Loti School is situated in a social mixed area within a
small district. An attractive park is situated in front of the school
but the Pierre Loti Avenue, supporting 8,000 vehicles daily, disconnects
this green area from the school. The parents are afraid to let the
children go by bike or by foot to school and think that cars are the
safestoption to take the children to school. Many of the school children
do not even know how to ride a bike. For these reasons, the Mobility
Department of the municipality contacted the school to see if together
they could transform this busy road into a car-free street for a day.
This provided the opportunity to the children to play in the street and
in the park and have fun while learning how to ride a bike. The street
in front of the school was closed for one day in June 2016 and May 2017.
The activities organised included: home to school escort by bicycle
(organised by the bicycle Police Brigade/Bicycle School) and by foot
(organised by the parents), a bike and games lending library, a bicycle
training area, some workshops and information on bicycle repairs, biking
safety, using public transport, free trial of different cargo bikes
with bike stores.
This initiative has enabled the creation of a playground in the park
next to the school and bicycle parking places. It also favoured
inter-generational exchange between the school and the nearby retirement
home. Parents launched a petition to have shared urban gardens in the
park. It was decided that 60,000 euros will be spent by the municipality
to set the garden up which will be open to all residents in the
neighbourhood, including the retirement home. Besides, bike stores have
increased their income and are selling more bikes, including foldable
bikes and cargo bikes. Elected representatives, teachers and parents are
now reflecting on how to include bike learning in the school programme.
The Children’s Street initiative is sustained by several activities.
Following the 2 one-day events organised by the municipality, the school
and the parents have organised on their own a 3rd event in April 2018,
including a bike market and a party in the street, with the
participation of associations. The municipality initiated the process
and now parents, children and school teachers are responsible to
organise such events in the future, with the municipality offering
support, but not acting as a driving force anymore. In addition, other
schools are interested by this initiative and a new Children’ Street
with another school will be organised in a different neighbourhood.
Develop the attractiveness of commercial areas in the city centre
The first experiment took place in the old market place from July to
August 2016. This place is today used as a big round-about for cars,
reducing the space available for pedestrians. The shopkeepers would like
to reduce the car’s presence but at the same time authorise freight
access for the market in the morning. A modular access was therefore
needed. A solution was found together to regulate the access, using
colourful signs to mark the limits of the pedestrian zone during the
event.
From July to August 2017, the second experiment was organised in the
Saint-Nicolas district, a small shopping area, a little hidden away just
behind the old harbour. The aim was to make this neighbourhood visible
from far away and attract more people to this area. All the shops are
small local shops and shopkeepers are struggling to attract more clients
to the city centre, taking into account the competition of the huge
commercial areas located outside of the city centre. Posters showcasing
shop owners have been produced by the municipality, using the ENGAGE
poster tool (wwww.citiesengage.eu).
Shop owners could promote cycling on these posters that were displayed
in their shops. An exhibition of ENGAGE posters has also been organised
by the municipality, including posters with students, teachers, civil
servants putting forward their different arguments for cycling.
The most significant result of these experiments is the change of
mind set of shopkeepers who no longer claim “no car, no business”. More
people are now shopping by bike as citizens realised that the cargo bike
is faster than the car. This shows that it is important for people to
have a voluntary behaviour change, but for that it is crucial that they
try and experiment beforehand, so that they realise the advantages that a
different lifestyle might bring. Shopkeepers are using bikes to buy
their products and to dispose of their waste. Bike stores and shop
owners have increased their income during this test phase, some of them
by up to 25%. The shop owners’ association, gathering almost 100
members, are now reflecting on how to encourage shopping by biking and
walking to make this lifestyle attractive to their potential customers
and thus differentiate themselves from the big commercial centres on the
outskirts of the city where customers need a car to shop there. The
project has also brought more sociability, for example shop owners now
put chairs outside of their shops, in order to invite passers-by to sit
and appreciate the excellent quality of life in their city.
Living Streets: a modular experience for the city of La Rochelle
Living in an urban environment conceived for car use, makes it
difficult for people to imagine and have another vision for the future
of the public space in their city. The municipality of La Rochelle
implemented
Living Streets as a motivating and modular experience allowing
citizens to experiment different aspects of what life without a car
means and see all the benefits that this might bring to them. However,
with this experience, the municipality of La Rochelle does not aim for
example to replicate the same children’s street in all schools, but a
new concept based on the needs of each district. Each street is
different and the municipality aims to keep the co-construction process
that took place in the first children’s street. The
Living Streets enabled seeds to be planted for the future, provided
time and space for first-hand experience and let things happen.
Contact
Birgitta Morin, Sustainable mobility officer, City of La Rochelle
