It is a phenomenon that has been widely known for a long time: every year the question of the commercial development of French land is more pressing. We regularly talk about the equivalent of a department disappearing every 10 years.
This is due to the demand for detached housing (further reinforced by the Covid-19 pandemic), which implies the extension of road networks; there are also car parks and large shopping centres now joined by huge "Amazon" type depos and all the economic, administrative and sports activity zones which are sometimes moved to the outskirts of towns.
During the 20,000 km tour of France that we did from 2012 to 2018, we often stopped our bikes to photograph the signs of developers or town halls wanting to attract activity to their territory. The names they gave to their real estate projects often made us smile or saddened us depending on the mood of the day.
Of course, this work should not be seen as a criticism of people who opt for this type of housing or who wish to create jobs in their municipalities in order to make them attractive. Rather, they are questions about this model of urban sprawl, which risks making life even more difficult in the years and decades to come.
Indeed, in addition to the problems of runoff and flooding caused by the artificialisation of land, the fact that 70% of the rich agricultural land is disappearing as a result can be worrying for the destruction of ecosystems, biodiversity and the country's food security. Moreover, the Yellow Vests movement has shown us that peri-urbanisation poses problems of mobility for example and the consequences of climate change should raise questions about the choice of suitable building materials and much more...
To go further on the themes of peri-urbanisation and land artificialisation here are some links:
https://www.insee.fr/fr/metadonnees/definition/c2190
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Périurbanisation/
https://artificialisation.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/
https://www.francetvinfo.fr/economie/emploi/metiers/agriculture/artificialisation-des-sols-les-projets-de-construction-sur-des-terrains-agricoles-ont-explose-l-annee-derniere_5172397.html
https://reporterre.net/Terres-agricoles-l-equivalent-de-la-region-Paca-a-disparu-en-cinquante-ans
Finally, if we have chosen to show a lot of photos, it is so that we can see the extent of the phenomenon. For us, this series can also be seen as a demonstration of the relevance of the still image. It makes it possible to produce large collections of documents without excessive weight (of files on the web for example) and leaves the viewer the leisure and the time to take the measure of what is proposed to him.
Enjoy your viewing!
PS: Please note that we present on this site the reports of two projects symbolic of landscape commercialization in France, namely the construction of a new airport at Notre-Dame-des-Landes and the construction of a dam on a wetland at Sivens.
It is a phenomenon that has been widely known for a long time: every year the question of the commercial development of French land is more pressing. We regularly talk about the equivalent of a department disappearing every 10 years.
This is due to the demand for detached housing (further reinforced by the Covid-19 pandemic), which implies the extension of road networks; there are also car parks and large shopping centres now joined by huge "Amazon" type depos and all the economic, administrative and sports activity zones which are sometimes moved to the outskirts of towns.
During the 20,000 km tour of France that we did from 2012 to 2018, we often stopped our bikes to photograph the signs of developers or town halls wanting to attract activity to their territory. The names they gave to their real estate projects often made us smile or saddened us depending on the mood of the day.
Of course, this work should not be seen as a criticism of people who opt for this type of housing or who wish to create jobs in their municipalities in order to make them attractive. Rather, they are questions about this model of urban sprawl, which risks making life even more difficult in the years and decades to come.