#2 - 8 November 2019

Game over for EuropaCity…

EuropaCity, a 3 billion-euro project by French real estate company Ceetrus and Chinese investment company Wanda for a retail and recreational space north of Paris, is officially called off. “Dated”, “obsolete”, “from a bygone era”: according to French President Emmanuel Macron, the project “is no longer in line with citizens’ aspirations”. “We want to avoid this type of equipment as much as possible”, says the government, which calls for an “alternate project”, “more mixed, more modern, one that wouldn’t create an oversized hub for consumption, leisure, and objects”. This announcement elicited criticism from local elected officials; it also raises the question of the occasional contradiction, when it comes to major projects such as this one, between environmental preoccupations and economic development: EuropaCity was due to create 10,000 jobs in a disenfranchised area where the unemployment rate sometimes exceeds 15%.

→ A few months ago, we asked Lucile Schmid (La Fabrique écologique) and Giuseppe Bettoni (University of Rome Tor Vergata) about opposition to major projects.

No time to read? La Fabrique de la Cité has got you covered.

1, 2, 3: when the world's leading country in terms of automotive industry turns to clean mobility, what you get is a plan for 1 million charging stations by 2030, two energy carrier options (electricity or hydrogen) and 3 billion euros invested by 2023. - Cécile Maisonneuve, President 

Wanted: free parking spot. New York City is already exploring ways to mitigate the side effects of its future congestion charge on parking in the surrounding neighborhoods. – Camille Combe, Project Manager

→ Related: La Fabrique de la Cité is currently conducting a research project on how to fund mobility in a post-carbon world. Stay tuned for our report, out in early 2020.

Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalk Labs have reached an agreement on the future of the much-debated smart city project on the shores of Lake Ontario; but the Alphabet subsidiary does not exactly come out on top. – Marie Baléo, Head of Publications

→ Related: don’t miss our Toronto city portrait, out next month.

Google’s Pigeon is taking flight. The transit app, a "Waze for public transport" and the latest project to come out of its lab, will inform users thanks to real-time crowdsourced data on transport delays. – Camille Combe, Project Manager

“Four housing scenarios 20 years from now”: in The Agility Effect, read about Terra Nova’s study on the future of French territories and metropolises, the result of a working group in which La Fabrique de la Cité participated in 2018. – Cécile Maisonneuve, President

“The great scooter data wars of Los Angeles have officially begun,” writes CityLab: Uber has just sued the L.A. department of transportation, in the latest example of mounting frictions between cities and giants of the platform economy. – Marie Baléo, Head of Publications