Urban renewal, a new mission for EPAs


In response to a number of requests from Marne-la-Vallée communities, the EPAs are engaged in a novel approach to urban development in order to contribute to the city’s renewal.


The Arche Guédon neighbourhood in Torcy © Epamarne / Photo: Eric Morency
  • L’Arche Guédon, the initial experimentation site

The restructuring project for l’Arche Guédon in Torcy, one of the first neighbourhoods in Val Maubuée to be achieved within the New Town framework, represents the first urban renewal operation to be undertaken by EPAMARNE.

From the very first design stages in the 70s, l’Arche Guédon has been conceived on the basis of functional diversity (habitat, facilities, retail, etc.), which nowadays reclaims new relevance. The neighbourhood, which to this day retains a number of benefits and whose characteristics raised much interest back when it was being completed, has nonetheless gradually experienced a loss of image as a result of competition from other, more attractive clusters, as well as of aging buildings and of increasing social difficulties.

Today, the Arche Guédon urban renewal project, defined with the cooperation of local authorities, residents and local players, involves three levels of intervention:

- Development works to open up the neighbourhood’s core, improve the public areas and redeploy retail and the services business

- Targeted initiatives to improve social rental housing

- New housing construction programmes for first-time buyers, a means towards the lasting return of social diversity

This project is part of the momentum towards the urban and economic development of Torcy and Val Maubuée, as stimulated by the Descartes Cluster project which is opening up new perspectives for all municipalities in the area.

  • Cooperation with the municipality and the Val Maubuée SAN

The municipality of Torcy, the Val Maubuée SAN and EPAMARNE are jointly determined to act upon this area by sharing control of the entire process in the Arche Guédon “urban regeneration” operation.

All three players are already looking into the possibility of extending such urban renewal operations to other neighbourhoods, within the framework of a partnership covenant.