Chennevières — Place de la LibertéConflans-Sainte-Honorine (78)

In Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, the Chennevières district was born in the 17th century at a crossroads of country lanes leading to Herblay, Pierrelaye and Éragny. From that hamlet it has kept a precious thread: rue Désiré Clément and its low houses, the covered market hall that comes alive on Thursdays and Sundays, and at the heart of it all, Place de la Liberté. Within a multidisciplinary team, Praxys led the landscape part of this pre-operational study, from the initial diagnosis to the masterplan, with one guiding idea: to give the square back its role as a common ground, where people cross paths, linger and meet.

The masterplan draws a large square framed by a grove of tall trees. The trees stand along the edges like a setting, leaving the centre open to the eye and to everyday life. Beneath their canopy the horizon turns green and the façades appear between the trunks. A single continuous ground, in a pale local stone, reaches out to the neighbouring streets; here and there, grass-jointed paving lets rainwater return to the soil. To the east, café terraces enjoy the play of sun and shade; a dry fountain cools summer afternoons, the old carousel finds its place again, a bandstand hosts the highlights of neighbourhood life and a planted grove gathers the rain.

The square is designed as an open stage: weekly market, Christmas market, flea market, open-air cinema, exhibitions… Children find free play areas, boules players a stabilised gravel ground. At the corner of rue Spysschaert and rue d'Herblay, a shaded 520 m² small square offers seating and terraces. The surrounding streets calm down into 30 km/h zones, open up to cyclists and receive new trees; the market hall is kept and welcomes permanent shops. In all, the number of trees grows from 63 to 120 across some 3.5 hectares of intervention.

Shaped together with residents through public meetings, questionnaires and workshops, the masterplan unfolds in four phases, from the small corner square to the renewal of the shopping heart. A step-by-step way of guiding a district attached to its history towards a gentler, shadier and more shared centre.