Bourg-la-Reine Landscape CharterBourg-la-Reine (92)

Bourg-la-Reine is a balcony set on the hillside of the Bièvre valley. Born as a street village along the old road from Paris to Orléans, the town slopes gently eastwards, from 77 down to 43 metres, and looks across to the opposite side: the wooded slopes of L'Haÿ-les-Roses, the heights of Sceaux and Bagneux, and the tower of the Hennebique house standing out as a landmark. The landscape section of the architectural and landscape charter starts from this geography: understanding how the slope, the streets and the gardens together shape the residents' everyday landscape.

The study reveals a quiet wealth: in Bourg-la-Reine, most planted spaces are private gardens and green courtyards. Tall trees rising above fences, hedges, low walls, generous front gardens: this tree heritage, visible from the street, gives each street its atmosphere. The local plan lists some forty remarkable trees, often set deep within private plots yet offered to the passer-by's gaze.

From there, streets are read according to their relationship with the slope. Those running down the hillside open views onto the wider landscape, with the wooded slope as a backdrop, kept open by low planting and gardens spilling over onto the street. Those following the contour lines are more intimate and garden-like: they end on a building or a remarkable tree, and street trees, parking and private gardens are combined into a single landscape.

The charter turns these readings into simple gestures at the scale of each plot: an open fence revealing the garden, a 45 cm low wall that becomes a bench, a street-side garden at least two metres deep in front of homes, a gap between two buildings opening onto the courtyard garden, planted courtyards and shared vegetable gardens with fruit trees. Each new project thus becomes an opportunity to extend the town's landscape, from the doorstep to the valley.