MANZAR, the Scientific Journal of landscape
Scientific Quarterly Journal

From Industry to Community: The Process of Transforming an Industrial Area in France into an Ecoquartier (A Case Study of the Saint-Ouen Ecoquartier)

10.22034/manzar.2026.534758.2365
Volume 18, Issue 74
Spring 2026
Pages 78-91
MANZAR, the Scientific Journal of landscape

Document Type : Case Study

Authors

Hamide Abarghouei Fard 1
Michael Fenker 2

1 Laboratoire Espaces Transformations (LET), Laboratoire Architecture Ville Urbanisme (LAVU), École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture Paris-La Villette (ENSAPLV), Paris, France

2 Department of Landscape Architecture, ENSA Paris-La-Villette, Paris, Farnce

Abstract
Participatory approaches in urban design and management, particularly at the neighborhood scale, have attracted global attention since the mid-1970s. In France, resident participation in urban development projects has received particular emphasis through the national Ecoquartier program. Since 2009, numerous neighborhood development projects across France have been implemented under this designation. Achieving sustainable development goals has been closely linked to the provision of social housing, the development of public spaces, and the optimization of energy consumption. Four stages have been defined for the development of Ecoquartier projects: planning, delivery, lived experience, and evaluation. Despite a general consensus regarding the relative success of these projects, the nature and level of participatory design and management approaches remain unclear. In particular, the relationships among different stakeholders over time, and the ways in which they shape and reshape the production of space, require further clarification. More specifically, the role of public spaces, as one of the common instruments of participatory development in these projects, has remained to some extent unexplored. By examining the case study of Saint-Ouen, this research aims to clarify the relationship between participatory approaches throughout the process of designing and managing public spaces and the ways in which space is inhabited, allocated, used, and reproduced by the population for whom it is planned. Using a case study approach, data were collected and analyzed through interviews, field observations, and urban planning documents. In total, eight key stakeholders, along with a number of residents, were selected based on their roles and levels of involvement. The extracted themes were coded and categorized within the theoretical framework of participatory governance. Ecoquartier projects in France are initiatives that stem from the pursuit of realizing a national policy and ideal at the local scale. This creates logistical complexities that are a natural outcome of the multiplicity of stakeholders and the frameworks defining and controlling development. The realization of participation in these projects depends on transparent, continuous, and inclusive processes that incorporate residents’ voices from the earliest stages and remain adaptable to the inevitable contextual changes inherent in urban projects. Accordingly, participation in Ecoquartier projects is understood as an ongoing and multilayered process that requires continuous adaptation, genuine inclusion, and effective coordination among all stakeholders within a holistic framework. In the Saint-Ouen Ecoquartier, challenges such as socio-economic inequalities, logistical constraints, political orientations, and intrinsic project limitations have reduced the process to staged and episodic consultation rather than full participation. Consequently, partial participation has been achieved through development instruments such as social housing initiatives and neighborhood council meetings.

Keywords

Participatory governance
Ecoquartier
Public space
Subjects
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