How cities across France will change in 2019
Find out what revamps are in store this year for the city in France near you.
In 2019 city authorities across France are set to invest heavily in plenty of exciting, new public works, with a special emphasis placed on greener transport networks, social housing and more culture and cuisine available to all.
Here are the main projects to look forward to.
Paris
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo plans to ramp up her green transport tactics for the capital in 2019, her number one goal still being to clamp down on traffic.
The region’s RATP network will add four new bus lines and extend 22 existing ones, creating a total of 250 new bus stops in the process.
More bike lanes will also be rolled out as part of the ‘Plan Vélo’, especially along the major east-west axis Rue de Rivoli.
By December Parisians should be able to cycle from Place de la Bastille to Place de la Concorde in protected bike lanes, as well as along a number of other safe vélo routes throughout the city.
Plenty of new subsidized housing is also on the cards – 100,000 units to be exact, mainly in the 18th, 19th, and 20th arrondissements.
And to mark the 75th anniversary of Paris’s liberation from the Nazis, the Musée de la Libération will be moving to a new €20 million home in Place Denfert-Rochereau (image above), opening its doors on August 25th.
Marseille
Authorities in France’s second most populated city will also be placing a lot of focus on improving its transport networks, especially in Marseille’s historically deprived quartiers nords (northern districts).
If all goes according to plan, extension works on delay-prone métro line 2 will finally be completed, including the opening of the Capitaine Gèze exchange terminal, which will have a car park, charging station for electric cars and a bike share station.
Several new buildings will also be opening in 2019 Bouches-du-Rhône’s capital, including Le Paquebot (‘The Ocean Liner’, as seen above), a subsidized housing residence designed to look like a cruise ship, and a Pathé-Gaumont multiplex cinema featuring 14 screens and 2,800 seats.
Lyon
Public transport in Lyon is also set for a spruce up, thanks to the planned December opening of the T6, a €161 million tramline serving 14 stations from Debourg in the city’s 7th arrondissement to Hôpitaux-Est in the municipality of Bron.
Also, the renovated west wing of Lyon-Perrache’s station is scheduled to open this summer, meant to ease the flow of traffic in and between neighbouring areas.
On the east side of the city, the Parc Blandan (above) is being expanded to include additional gardens and a prairie, and France’s largest private hospital, the médipôle Lyon-Villeurbanne, opened already on January 2nd.
Toulouse
La Ville Rose will see a few major construction projects completed in 2019.
Most notable of all is the Sky-Line, a futuristic municipal services building which will open in the northern neighborhood of Borderouge.
The opening is a step forward in the development of the planned Compans-Caffarelli digital campus.
In the centre of Toulouse, the renovation of the marchés Victor Hugo is also expected to be completed.
Nice
The picturesque Alpes-Maritimes capital will be expanding its tram network with an underground segment in between Magnan and Avenue Jean-Médecin that will link lines 1 and 2, connecting the port to the airport and more by December 2019.
A €30 million cuisine centrale (central kitchen) will also get cooking this year with the aim of supplying schools, nurseries, and community centres with 30,000 daily meals.
Nice authorities will reinforce security measures along the emblematic Promenade des Anglais as well, following the 2016 terror attack where hundreds were mowed down by a truck on Bastille Day.
Nantes
The ambitious Désiré Colombe urban development project is approaching completion in the western French city.
Centred around the street of the same name, this multidimensional development includes the restoration of several historical buildings, the opening of a community centre and a park, and the creation of subsidized housing, designed to create a socially-diverse place to live and work.
Nantes will also be undertaking a €3.6 million expansion of its network of bike lanes by summer, mainly by adding a path from Pont-Morand to the Tortière bridge; as well as installing a number of eco-friendly high-tech trash compactors in the city centre.
Bordeaux
The port city on the Garonne river will see its network of trams get a significant boost in 2019.
Line C will be extended to Villenave-d’Ornon, line D will be stretch out to Bouscat’s town hall, and mayor Alain Juppé recently announced the purchase of €45 million worth of new tram cars.
Additionally, the mayor’s office will be pursuing projects to offer more housing and modernize older buildings in order to reduce energy costs.
Lille
The “Lillenium” mall, which will boast more than 100 shops and create 900 jobs near the city centre, is Lille’s most exciting pubic opening in 2019.
On the east side of town, a covered market featuring a food court and social kitchen will open as part of a project to reinvent what was formerly industrial wasteland.
Toulon
Construction of the ‘District of Creativity’ (Quartier de la créativité) in the Jardin Alexandre 1er in the centre of Toulon should finish in early 2019, featuring a multimedia library, a school of art & design, and the TVT business school. The city’s art museum is also set to reopen in November following a €10 million revamp.
Rouen
Rouen’s €88 million 8.5 km T4 tram is scheduled to start running on May 25th, crossing the Norman capital from the place du Boulingrin in the north to the Zénith in the south.
This year will also see the completion of the €30 million Coeur de Métropole project, designed to make the old city centre more appealing to visitors with pedestrianized streets and a museum quarter.
The city plans to have construction completed before the Armada sailing ship festival in June.
by Edward O'Reilly / Alex Dunham
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In 2019 city authorities across France are set to invest heavily in plenty of exciting, new public works, with a special emphasis placed on greener transport networks, social housing and more culture and cuisine available to all.
Here are the main projects to look forward to.
Paris
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo plans to ramp up her green transport tactics for the capital in 2019, her number one goal still being to clamp down on traffic.
The region’s RATP network will add four new bus lines and extend 22 existing ones, creating a total of 250 new bus stops in the process.
More bike lanes will also be rolled out as part of the ‘Plan Vélo’, especially along the major east-west axis Rue de Rivoli.
By December Parisians should be able to cycle from Place de la Bastille to Place de la Concorde in protected bike lanes, as well as along a number of other safe vélo routes throughout the city.
Plenty of new subsidized housing is also on the cards – 100,000 units to be exact, mainly in the 18th, 19th, and 20th arrondissements.
And to mark the 75th anniversary of Paris’s liberation from the Nazis, the Musée de la Libération will be moving to a new €20 million home in Place Denfert-Rochereau (image above), opening its doors on August 25th.
Marseille
Authorities in France’s second most populated city will also be placing a lot of focus on improving its transport networks, especially in Marseille’s historically deprived quartiers nords (northern districts).
If all goes according to plan, extension works on delay-prone métro line 2 will finally be completed, including the opening of the Capitaine Gèze exchange terminal, which will have a car park, charging station for electric cars and a bike share station.
Several new buildings will also be opening in 2019 Bouches-du-Rhône’s capital, including Le Paquebot (‘The Ocean Liner’, as seen above), a subsidized housing residence designed to look like a cruise ship, and a Pathé-Gaumont multiplex cinema featuring 14 screens and 2,800 seats.
Lyon
Public transport in Lyon is also set for a spruce up, thanks to the planned December opening of the T6, a €161 million tramline serving 14 stations from Debourg in the city’s 7th arrondissement to Hôpitaux-Est in the municipality of Bron.
Also, the renovated west wing of Lyon-Perrache’s station is scheduled to open this summer, meant to ease the flow of traffic in and between neighbouring areas.
On the east side of the city, the Parc Blandan (above) is being expanded to include additional gardens and a prairie, and France’s largest private hospital, the médipôle Lyon-Villeurbanne, opened already on January 2nd.
Toulouse
La Ville Rose will see a few major construction projects completed in 2019.
Most notable of all is the Sky-Line, a futuristic municipal services building which will open in the northern neighborhood of Borderouge.
The opening is a step forward in the development of the planned Compans-Caffarelli digital campus.
In the centre of Toulouse, the renovation of the marchés Victor Hugo is also expected to be completed.
Nice
The picturesque Alpes-Maritimes capital will be expanding its tram network with an underground segment in between Magnan and Avenue Jean-Médecin that will link lines 1 and 2, connecting the port to the airport and more by December 2019.
A €30 million cuisine centrale (central kitchen) will also get cooking this year with the aim of supplying schools, nurseries, and community centres with 30,000 daily meals.
Nice authorities will reinforce security measures along the emblematic Promenade des Anglais as well, following the 2016 terror attack where hundreds were mowed down by a truck on Bastille Day.
Nantes
The ambitious Désiré Colombe urban development project is approaching completion in the western French city.
Centred around the street of the same name, this multidimensional development includes the restoration of several historical buildings, the opening of a community centre and a park, and the creation of subsidized housing, designed to create a socially-diverse place to live and work.
Nantes will also be undertaking a €3.6 million expansion of its network of bike lanes by summer, mainly by adding a path from Pont-Morand to the Tortière bridge; as well as installing a number of eco-friendly high-tech trash compactors in the city centre.
Bordeaux
The port city on the Garonne river will see its network of trams get a significant boost in 2019.
Line C will be extended to Villenave-d’Ornon, line D will be stretch out to Bouscat’s town hall, and mayor Alain Juppé recently announced the purchase of €45 million worth of new tram cars.
Additionally, the mayor’s office will be pursuing projects to offer more housing and modernize older buildings in order to reduce energy costs.
Lille
The “Lillenium” mall, which will boast more than 100 shops and create 900 jobs near the city centre, is Lille’s most exciting pubic opening in 2019.
On the east side of town, a covered market featuring a food court and social kitchen will open as part of a project to reinvent what was formerly industrial wasteland.
Toulon
Construction of the ‘District of Creativity’ (Quartier de la créativité) in the Jardin Alexandre 1er in the centre of Toulon should finish in early 2019, featuring a multimedia library, a school of art & design, and the TVT business school. The city’s art museum is also set to reopen in November following a €10 million revamp.
Rouen
Rouen’s €88 million 8.5 km T4 tram is scheduled to start running on May 25th, crossing the Norman capital from the place du Boulingrin in the north to the Zénith in the south.
This year will also see the completion of the €30 million Coeur de Métropole project, designed to make the old city centre more appealing to visitors with pedestrianized streets and a museum quarter.
The city plans to have construction completed before the Armada sailing ship festival in June.
by Edward O'Reilly / Alex Dunham
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