Toulouse: Paléficat, this corner of the countryside which will experience a demographic explosion
On the edge of the district which has experienced the greatest population increase in the last ten years, the Paléficat area is a UFO in Toulouse. Nearly 7,000 homes will be built there over the next twenty years.
In Paleficat, it’s the countryside. In this little piece of Toulouse, wedged between L’Union and Launaguet, the fields still occupy most of the space. The roads are reminiscent of these small countryside departmental roads… but only a few hundred meters from the ring road. Chemin de Paléficat, chemin de Virebent… a few pavilions, a few buildings, old agricultural properties, but also companies: there a carpenter, there again the regional headquarters of the multinational poster company, JCDecaux… And bus lines, 33 and 42. Even reserved lanes, on the main avenue Florence Arthaud. This brand new thoroughfare sets the tone for future urban development.
500,000 m2 of housing to be built
On these lands, among the last buildings in the municipality of Toulouse, the developer Oppidea will build 500,000 m2 of housing (approximately 7,000), over a period that will extend over the next fifteen or twenty years. “It’s a long-term project”, breathes the mayor of the district, Maxime Boyer. 60,000 m² of public facilities (schools, college, leisure centre, gymnasium, car park, MJC, early childhood center, toy library, etc.) will also be built, as well as 50,000 m² of activities, shops and services.
In the continuity of the exchanges carried out with the local residents since 2018, consultation mechanisms will be put in place throughout the project to share and refine its orientations.
In November 2021, Oppidea chose a consortium led by the architectural firm Michel Guthmann et Associés, to design the framework of the future district.
13 hectare park along the Hers
“The new Paléficat can and must be the manifesto of a new form of city: deeply inspired by what already exists, the landscape and its inhabitants, explains the architect. A new system which no longer opposes the city to the countryside and natural landscapes, but on the contrary which reconnects with its geography and which proposes the symbiosis of the city and natural and agricultural landscapes to create an authentic garden city. »
For Annette Laigneau, president of Oppidea, Paleficat must be an example of a city in the countryside. “We have chosen to preserve the agricultural environment of this area to preserve the identity of this district. The new inhabitants of the district will therefore live as close as possible to nature, in sustainably built housing, and will benefit from public spaces geared towards conviviality and low-carbon modes of transport. »
The future district is organized around the existing landscape, and notably proposes the creation of a 13-hectare park along the river, from the Château de Paléficat in the south to the banks of the Hers in the north.