• After those of the place of Catalonia and Charonne, the City of Paris announced this Wednesday the creation of a third urban forest, place of Colonel-Fabien, on the border between the 10th and 19th arrondissements of Paris.

  • “It is a large public space that is particularly unsuitable for pedestrians,” emphasizes Emmanuel Grégoire, the first deputy, who aims to create a green space that is a biodiversity corridor between the canal and the Buttes-Chaumont park.

  • The objective is to create a wooded area of ​​800 m² in the ground with the planting of 60 to 80 trees.

    Work will begin after the Olympic Games for delivery in December 2025.

The City of Paris does not want to give up on Anne Hidalgo's campaign promise to create urban forests.

But she has almost completely revised her plans.

Exit the project on the Henri-Fresnay slab, next to the Gare de Lyon, "too technical and expensive", in the words of the first deputy Emmanuel Grégoire, and the one behind the Opera which will be replaced by an "artistic signature".

There remains therefore the possible forest of the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, which does not look much better, but which the municipality is more reluctant to abandon because of the symbolism, and the future site of the Place de la Catalunya whose work has begun and where, for the 2024 Olympic Games, 12,000 m² of wood will be created with 470 trees.

And to keep its word, the municipal team therefore fell back on other sites.

Starting with the urban forest of Charonne, a wasteland of two hectares acquired for 11.5 million euros from the SNCF and where 2,000 trees will be planted.

And this Wednesday, January 25, Emmanuel Grégoire announced the transformation of Place du Colonel-Fabien, straddling the 10th and 19th arrondissements, into a future urban forest.

So for anyone who knows the square today, a sort of large roundabout, it's hard to imagine.

“Many faults of its time”

“It is a large public space that is particularly unsuitable for pedestrians,” concedes Emmanuel Grégoire.

“This square has many faults of its time, engages Alexandra Cordebard, the mayor of the 10th arrondissement.

It is almost exclusively reserved for cars and the central reservation is very difficult to access for pedestrians.

The idea of ​​the municipality is to create a green space which is a biodiversity corridor between the canal and the Buttes-Chaumont park, with several objectives, according to the first deputy: "vegetation, reduction of noise pollution, protection of pedestrians, cyclists and heritage”.


Concretely, this will result in the attachment of the central island to the western part of the square, at the level of the youth hostel, where the network constraints (subways, cables, etc.) are the least strong and where it is easier to grow trees.

“There will be 800 m² of open ground to plant the urban forest, specifies Christophe Najdowski, deputy in charge of the revegetation of public space.

These will be dense plantations with 8 to 10 units per 100 m², i.e. a total of 60 to 80 trees.

“In addition, the trees of the current median will be integrated into the forest, without cutting, promises the elected Parisian.

Finally, if the future urban forest is not completely designed, on the other hand, as in the case of that of Charonne, it will not be accessible to the public, at least for the time it develops.

The car asked to go somewhere else

Obviously, this goes hand in hand with a “redefinition of uses”, indicates Christophe Najdowski.

As a result, the roadway intended for the car will be reduced by 60% and a two-way, horseshoe-shaped cycle path will be installed, modeled on that of Catalonia Square.

On the other hand, the portion of the rue de Meaux, between the square and the rue des Chaufourniers, will be pedestrianized and planted.

The consultation of this project estimated at 6.4 million euros begins this Wednesday evening with a public meeting and will continue until March.

"From April to the summer of 2024, there will be studies and the obtaining of authorizations for the start of work just after the Olympic Games and delivery in December 2025", projects Emmanuel Grégoire, who promises that "other urban forests are in the pipes.

Why not that of the Town Hall?

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  • Paris

  • Ile-de-France

  • Paris city hall

  • Tree

  • Forest

  • Town planning