Inhabitants and guests of Poitiers are witnessing multiple alterations in their town’s heritage area.
Poitiers is a historic town situated in the west central area of France which contains a large panel of cultural heritage. Its population reaches 83.500 inhabitants.
Since Poitiers joined the URBACT HerO project, many transformations have been completed on the ground:
- The circulation plan has been altered which allowed pedestrians to recover a large part of the historical and heritage area;
- A new collective transport plan which takes this pedestrianization into account has been elaborated;
- A facades renovation operation has been launched with the example of the city hall. Additionally, some of the facades around the city hall square have been or will be renovated with financial assistance of the municipality;
- Big scale works of re-settlement and its surroundings have been conducted. Further 38 000 square meters will be then retreated, whereas public and private stakeholders have explicitly worked out the accessibility to the shops and public facilities;
- Artists were recruited for actions on the valorised public space;
- Historical monuments located in the heritage area were renovated;
- A Reference Plan for the settlement of the safeguarded area and its surroundings has been adopted;
- A Tourism Development Plan to improve and make the tourist offer of the city centre more attractive has been elaborated.
Within a few months, the heart of the city has changed due to considering the principles of sustainable development and specific constraints of a heritage area. Both private and public stakeholders of the city centre were deeply involved in the transformation processes.
The completion of projects is scheduled for the middle 2013.
Anne Pignon,
Director, City of Poitiers
Partner in URBACT HerO Project
