• The results of the first barometer of walkable cities were unveiled on Tuesday by several associations for the defense of pedestrians.

  • Acigné obtains the best national rating, closely followed by Cesson-Sévigné.

    Rennes also gets a good rating.

  • In Acigné, many paths have been built in the middle of the subdivisions to encourage walking.

The pedestrian policy works rather well in Rennes and in its metropolis. This is the observation that can be established after the publication on Tuesday of the first barometer of “walkable towns” carried out by the French Hiking Federation and the associations 60 Millions de Piétons and Rue de l'Avenir. Conducted from 43,000 questionnaires completed by residents, this major survey made it possible to assign a score to more than 200 cities.

In this game, the city of Rennes is doing quite well with a grade of “C” which places it second in France behind Strasbourg and ahead of Nantes. Penalized by their main roads, insecurity and the importance of the car, large cities are easily overtaken by smaller municipalities. With an "A +", the champion in all categories of this barometer is Breton. Acigné is the only French town to obtain this rating. And that does not really surprise its inhabitants ...

“Go for a walk and you will see. There are small passages everywhere, the paths are wooded, it's nice ”. In the middle of his morning jog, Pascal gives us his feelings. This inhabitant of Acigné adores the paths of his town, which he regularly walks or runs. His explanation? “The town has been maintaining its paths for thirty years, even in new housing estates. And then we are fortunate not to have a major axis that crosses the village. It changes everything ". Mélodie goes in the same direction. "My children go to school on foot and I have never been worried." This shopkeeper discovered the full extent of the paths in her town a year ago, when she had a dog. “It's very green and you can go all around the town. We only cross three or four roads ”.

Rennes and Strasbourg, good students, the disaster in Marseille ... What are the “walkable” cities?

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- 20 Minutes Planet (@ 20minutesplanet) September 7, 2021

This choice to offer pedestrian paths is not new.

Current mayor of the town, Olivier Dehaese (PS) pays tribute to his predecessor Guy Jouhier.

“It has been over thirty years since these developments began.

The city had acquired land in order to keep natural areas as close as possible to homes.

We were able to keep the hedgerows and build very pleasant paths ”.

Elected in 2014, the Socialist continued this development policy.

In all the new housing estates, footpaths have been created to encourage people to walk to the shops in the town of this town of 7,000 inhabitants.

"We must set up secure, fast and comfortable spaces"

These urban planning choices are popular in many municipalities in the Rennes metropolitan area (

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) but they are more difficult to set up in the city center. In Rennes, the pedestrian policy consists above all in securing existing facilities, which are not always suitable for walkers. “It's like cycling. To convince people to walk, it is necessary to set up safe, fast and comfortable spaces. In general, pedestrians do not like to take detours, ”estimates Valérie Faucheux, mobility assistant at the city of Rennes. Here, 34% of trips are made on foot according to a survey carried out in 2018. At the time, this figure for bicycles was 3%, even if it has risen sharply, and 13% for public transport. To encourage the use of walking, the municipality has also decided to focus on education, inviting its municipal police to schools to issue a "pedestrian permit".

Affublé of the note "C", the Breton capital is one of the best French according to the barometer even if "much remains to be done", recognizes the elected ecologist. Reduction in car speed, widening of sidewalks, verbalization of inconvenient parking lots… The tracks put forward by the Rue de l'Avenir association are nevertheless well known. “We have the feeling that pedestrians are not supported by public policies when they are very numerous. It's a silent majority, ”says Frédéric Brouet, member of the French Hiking Federation. In the relentless quest to reduce the “solo car”, walking nevertheless appears to be an inexpensive and devilishly effective solution. “If we promote walking, we encourage the use of alternatives such as public transport.But we hear little pedestrians, it is difficult to know who they are, ”concludes Elodie Trauchessec, member of Ademe.

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The other well-rated municipalities ... or not

Among the 200 towns noted in this barometer of walkable towns, many are located in Ille-et-Vilaine.

In addition to Acigné and Rennes, we can highlight the excellent rating of Cesson-Sévigné who obtains an "A" and ranks in the national top 5.

The municipalities of Pacé, Saint-Erblon, Chantepie, Chavagne, Vern-sur-Seiche, Le Rheu or Saint-Gilles are also well judged by their inhabitants.

A finding that is not shared by the cities of Bruz, Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande and La Chapelle-des-Fougeretz but also Vitré or Saint-Malo, which inherit the D grade.

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