Narrow streets, too small sidewalks … How to respect social distancing in the city?

Whether in narrow and steep alleys of the second most visited monument in France, the Mont-Saint-Michel (Manche) or in the medieval city center of Rouen (Seine-Maritime), the social distancing imposed by the deconfinement is sometimes, due to lack of space, impossible to respect!

To comply with health rules, each person should have one meter of space around them in all circumstances. But then how to do when we cross in these alleys? On these sidewalks not wide enough? This is our not so silly question of the day!

Also read: [Photos et vidéos] Mont-Saint-Michel, a site to rediscover without its tide of tourists

The small alleys of the Mont closed

At Mont-Saint-Michel, the town hall was very firm and prohibited traffic in the narrowest alleys. In the rest of the monument, a one-way circuit has been installed, in order to avoid the crossing of people who go up or down the Mount, indicate our colleagues from the Channel Gazette.

In Rouen, nothing has yet been set up for traffic in these small alleys that make the charm of the medieval city center. But the city services are in full reflection.

Read also: Déconfinement Covid-19. Here is what changes in the reception at Mont-Saint-Michel

Rethinking public spaces

“The small streets, the narrow passages but also the sidewalks often not wide enough to accommodate the queues of traders and passers-by … are issues that mayors are obviously facing for deconfinement”, lists Christophe Bouillon, president of l ‘Association of small towns in France.

Several solutions are thus tested. Parking spaces are sometimes condemned to enlarge the sidewalks, “but it does not always please …”

Read also: Masks, distancing… How Le Havre trams and buses are adapted for deconfinement

“Off-the-shelf store openings have also been organized in some municipalities,” observes Denis Merville, mayor of Sainneville-sur-Seine and president of the Association of Mayors of Seine-Maritime.

Implementation of one-way streets, cycle paths, road closures for cars, markings on the ground … City hall services must change the face of their cities and towns, to ensure that distance is respected in public space. But it is a real headache for the city councilors. “Frankly, we cannot put yellow lines and barriers everywhere: we appeal to the common sense of the inhabitants”, underlines Denis Merville.

Develop “static town planning”

In this context of deconfinement, the mayors are called to develop what is called in the jargon of urban geographers “tactical urbanism”, indicate Mathieu Chassignet, mobility engineer and Éric Vidalen, project manager at Ademe (Agence de environment and energy management), in an article published on The Conversation.

This concept, originally from the United States, consists of setting up “temporary installations that use furniture that is easy to install (and uninstall) to demonstrate possible changes to the layout of a street, intersection or public space. We can thus show how development can influence the behavior of users. “

Read also: Deconfinement: in fabric, disposable… what to do with your used masks?

Towards a new organization of the city?

In short, tactical urban planning is another way of conceiving the city, in order to adapt space as well as possible to the needs of the inhabitants, and this quickly. “However, confinement has brutally redrawn these needs, and the experience of outings in this period has revealed how cities are not designed for residents, but essentially for cars,” write Mathieu Chassignet and Éric Vidalen.

Beyond the purely practical and temporary aspect which they assume in the current situation, these temporary installations allow to test a new organization of the city. “If they work, they can then be made permanent,” conclude the two members of Ademe.

Read also: INTERVIEW. The deconfinement, “a welcome boost” for the place of cycling in Rouen

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