La Pompignane NeighbourhoodMontpeliier (34)

In the east of Montpellier, between the river Lez and the hillside, La Pompignane stands at the heart of a vast landscape: the Cévennes to the north, the Mediterranean to the south, and two large parks on either side. The redevelopment project sets out to reveal this landscape and make it the foundation of a new quality of life, between the intense city and nature.

From the river park to the hillside park

The neighbourhood becomes a composite park. Along the Lez, a city-scale park unfolds from the Lunaret to the sea: a continuous promenade along the banks, pontoons, an island to discover, and a footbridge linking the neighbourhood to the tramway and the opposite bank. On the hillside, Mediterranean ecosystems of holm oaks, pines and Montpellier maples give the new public spaces their character.

Places that bring the neighbourhood to life

A market square at the heart of the neighbourhood, a waterside esplanade where open-air cafés set up, a balcony promenade on the heights of Pinville, and avenue Pierre Mendès-France transformed into a true, calm and tree-lined gateway to the city: so many everyday places linking schools, shops and parks.

Two families of streets

The main roads become tree-lined malls in the shade of plane trees, in the manner of southern French boulevards. The more intimate streets become garden streets, evoking Montpellier's “folies” and running down towards the Lez.

A gradual metamorphosis

The project does not start from a blank slate: it invents from what already exists. It is built step by step, through kick-start actions that immediately reveal the qualities of the site (the banks of the Lez, the footbridge, the square), followed by consolidation actions. The neighbourhood transforms before the eyes of its residents, who accompany this metamorphosis.