Strasbourg: why the pedestrianization of this city center square is controversial

From May to August 2022, the City of Strasbourg will experiment with a project that involves the pedestrianization of the Place du Temple-Neuf, which gives access to the Carré d’or, the commercial district of the historic center.

The project is not unanimous among traders in the sector.

A large bench instead of cars

In 2021, as part of a call for expressions of interest, the City of Strasbourg selected 18 ephemeral projects aimed, in its words, “to reinvest public space and take a fresh look at a square or district “.

Among them, the project called “Oasis”, which will be carried out on the Place du Temple Neuf, which currently houses a car park.

This project is intended to be a “contemplative place”, in the words of its promoter. Concretely, it will be a large bench, on which the inhabitants can sit or lie down, which will zigzag between two trees in the square. Parts of the bench are covered with greenery.

For this project to see the light of day, here is what the municipality provides – which specifies that “the decision must be consolidated” – in terms of parking.

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35 places removed, 12 others moved to the blue zone

The 35 parking spaces currently located on Place du Temple Neuf will be removed.

12 other places, which already exist today and which are distributed between rue du Temple Neuf and place du Marché Neuf, will become blue discs, with the possibility of parking for 40 minutes for click and collect. Understand: pick up your order from your butcher, cheese maker, etc.

“These places, outside the hours dedicated to trade, that is to say from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., will be places that the inhabitants can use as usual”, specifies Syamak Agha Babaei, first deputy mayor. from Strasbourg.

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Fear of loss of turnover

“People no longer come to Strasbourg city center because they can no longer park. The removal of these places worries us because it is a strategic place for access to the city center. Many residents come to park there to eat in our food shops, ”explains Pierre Bardet, general manager of the Les Vitrines de Strasbourg merchants association. However, he underlines the gesture of the municipality, with the passage of certain places in the blue zone.

“The removal of parking on the Place du Temple Neuf will inevitably have an impact on attendance since, admittedly, there were already not too many spaces, but it still allowed people with reduced mobility to go to the Carré d’or”, abounds Sylviane Jardin, director of Porcus, an institution located on the square.

“This car park is used by everyone who comes to shop in the neighborhood,” adds Marie-Laurence Forrer, manager of the Mallory store, also located on Place du Temple Neuf. She fears a drop in her turnover.

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“Give this place back to all the inhabitants”

For his part, Syamak Agha Babaei defends the philosophy carried by this project and assumes to want to extend the uses of this place. “The aim is to make this place ideally located for all the people who live in this city, not to limit its use to a simple car park. We want to make it peaceful, so that people can rest, walk with their children, quench their thirst, enjoy its heritage interest, with the presence of [l’église protestante du Temple-Neuf] ».

“Traders have needs, we have taken them into account, but this place does not belong only to traders”, continues the elected official. ” [On entend souvent les mêmes arguments] at each phase of pedestrianization. But take for example the Place du Château, which was a parking lot. Today, everyone benefits from it, it’s a place where the people of Strasbourg meet, a place where there is real public use, whereas before, it was dedicated to the car”.

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Pedestrianization does not rhyme with a decline in attractiveness, pleads the elected official

Lastly, on the potential loss of attractiveness, Mr. Agha Babaei stresses: “The experience of the past teaches us that the attractiveness of the city center of Strasbourg has not declined with pedestrianisation, it has even been reinforced, for the simple reason that we have more desire to consume when we manage to walk, to see the windows well, rather than when we have to look for hours for a parking space only to end up having trouble parking and paying a fine”.

For Sylviane Jardin, from Porcus, the problem lies elsewhere: “This square has never existed since there have never really been any businesses that have held up. Before removing the parking lots, we should already ask ourselves the question of who could settle in this place to bring back attractiveness. Let’s stop installing big brands that we will find in all the outskirts and that offer free parking.

A place that will only be accessible to Strasbourg residents?

With this pedestrianization project, she also fears that the square will only become accessible to Strasbourg residents, and no longer to people who live nearby and “who do not necessarily have the possibility of having public transport”.

“During the weekends, there are a lot of people who come from around Strasbourg…”, points out the manager of Mallory.

The City says it offers and works on alternative solutions to the car

On this subject, the elected representative recalls the efforts undertaken by the City and the Eurometropolis on the question of mobility, and in particular so-called soft mobility. He mentions, among other things, the Metropolitan Express Network (REM), a project also supported by the Region and which plans to increase the frequency of trains for each station in the Eurometropolis as well as to increase the time span of these same trains.

For a more exhaustive overview of the projects carried out by Strasbourg local authorities in terms of mobility, go here.

“The town hall wants to put a large bench, we are not in Nice here”

Beyond the removal of parking spaces, the very nature of the project is debated.

“The town hall wants to have large benches where people can lie down. But we are not in Cannes or Nice here. It rains and is cold part of the year, so it’s ridiculous,” says Marie-Laurence Forrer.

“The town hall wants to put grass so that people can picnic, so it will be full of trash all the time,” she also anticipates.

The municipality says it has anticipated the issue of waste management and will present its solutions later.

A lack of information pointed out by a representative of traders

Finally, Christelle Lorho, best worker cheese maker in France and president of the Cœur Gourmand, an association that brings together food and tableware craftsmen in Strasbourg, regrets a lack of information in this file.

“There was a real rapprochement between the town hall and the three associations concerned: Vitrines de Strasbourg, Carré d’or and Cœur gourmand”, she begins by underlining. “We have nothing against the project but the whole thing is to be informed and to know how it will happen tomorrow, in order to be able to announce it to our members and our customers. There, we are at 30 days, and we do not know! “, she laments then.

“There were still several information meetings, for local residents or traders,” recalls for his part Syamak Agha Babaei.

A shopkeeper says she welcomes the project with enthusiasm

Fortunately for the chosen one, not all traders are opposed to this project.

Thus, Carole, manager of the Eden Sans Gluten bakery and pastry shop, located on Place du Temple Neuf, says she welcomes him with enthusiasm: “This ephemeral project is a very good start. It could make a place that is not alive, make it a beautiful place”. Just as it could “make the entrance to the Carré d’Or more attractive”, she believes.

The project could be made permanent

Carole would also like the project to be made permanent, if ever it were satisfactory.

An option considered by the ecologist town hall: “There is an evaluation phase planned towards the end of the project. All opinions will be taken into account: those of traders, but also those of users of the square. If the experiment turns out to be positive, we will make it permanent”, announces Syamak Agha Babaei.

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