Par Nicholas Zaugra
Published on 7 Aug 22 at 6:12
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It is one of the urban extensions well known to the people of Lyon for its shopping center, airport, universities, businesses, shops, hospital, Eurexpo…
The IGN (National Institute of Geography) tool, “going back in time”, allows you to dive into the development of Gateway to the Alps located in Saint-Priest and Bron, near Lyon.
In the middle of the fields and the airstrips
It was in the 20th century that the Lyon agglomeration gradually extended over the plain to the east, which hosted industrial activities that could no longer develop within the narrow framework of the limits of Lyon. It was especially after the Second World War that the municipalities of Bron, Saint-Priest and Chassieu experienced real development.
On the aerial photos of 1956, the Porte des Alpes sector is above all a large expanse of fields and agricultural activities. There is not yet the A43 motorway, even less the shopping center or the exhibition center. Only one element still present is visible: the Bron airport built in the 1920s.
–First a campus before a shopping center
It was at the end of the 1960s that the State decided to create one of the first urban communities in France, Grand Lyon, which brought together several municipalities in the agglomeration. In 1970, a plan was put in place for the development of areas in the making, particularly for the eastern plain, which was still untouched by activity.
In 1971-1972, the University of Lyon II set up its campus in the town of Bron and, in 1975, a ZAC Bron/Parilly/Saint-Priest was created for the construction of housing and a shopping centre.
“Initially, a vast housing program is envisaged on
the site before the ZAC was limited to a commercial area and took the name “Champ du Pont”. The shopping center mainly occupied by the Auchan brand will open in 1981″, explains Grand Lyon in a document on the development of the Porte des Alpes.
–Auchan arrives in the 80s
The area took on a new dimension in the early 1980s with the arrival of Auchan and its shopping centre. The jammed shopping area between the A43 and the ring road becomes the attraction of this area formerly occupied by rapeseed fields.
Signs are multiplying with the development of outlying shopping areas. Ikea or even Leroy Merlin settled there before leaving to join a new district in the making, closer to the gates of Lyon, in Vénissieux.
–Skilled jobs in the 90s
In the 1990s, the area mutated to accommodate increasingly skilled companies and jobs. “The aim is to bring to the east of Lyon, which is traditionally working-class, higher-qualified jobs and to create a mixed zone combining housing and work. Particular attention is paid to the living environment with the creation of a harmonious landscape linking the Porte des Alpes site to the rest of the eastern plain,” notes Grand Lyon.
It was then decided to create a technological park of more than 120 ha, the extension of the Lyon II University, the creation of an urban park, the extension of the public transport lines (it is then a question of extend line D of the metro) and the development of economic activities on both sides of the A43 motorway.
In the end, it is not metro D that will be extended to Porte des Alpes, but the tramway. The T2 serves the business area while the T5 line provides access to the Eurexpo exhibition center opened in 1984.
–What future for the Porte des Alpes?
After the move of Ikea and Leroy Merlin, replaced by Cultura and Intersport and the abandonment of the major commercial project Yellow Pulse (new name for the Porte des Alpes centre), Greater Lyon Metropolis is thinking about the future of this gigantic urbanized area.
–The Metropolis of Lyon has asked three agencies to look into the future of the Grande Porte des Alpes for the years to come on the horizons 2030, 2040 and 2050. The conclusions and proposals are expected by 2023.
The challenge is to reflect on the future of the 1,350 hectares straddling Bron, Saint-Priest and Chassieu. 12,700 more jobs are estimated. It now remains to draw its future while taking into account the ecological emergency…
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