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“Edge city” - A New Intermodal Mixed-use Complex in Sevran

Part 1 Project 2011
Xenia Slavina
Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Paris-la-Villette Paris | France
The urban territories of the Paris periphery are often characterized by poor transportation links and strong social and physical discontinuities. The area surrounding the future connection between the express metro line and the existing RER train station of Sevran-Livry is typical of this condition of sprawl and social segregation. The site lacks a sense of urban unity. Divided north-south by the existing railway line, its separation from the city centre to the north is reinforced by the fragmented nature of the urban fabric and the lack of clear connections between the station and the park. Existing pedestrian spaces appear residual and chaotic.

As a strategic link in the future network of “Grand Paris”, the redevelopment of the Sevran-Livry station provides its commune with an exceptional chance to redefine its metropolitan status and imagine new forms of urban intensity and centrality.

The project begins by relocating the existing train and bus station to the north edge of the tracks so as to create a more convenient and identifiable connection between the city centre and its adjacent surroundings. This forms a new axis linking the existing station to the future automatic metro station and adjacent amenities while integrating additional functions such as recreational facilities or commercial activities, as well as car and bicycle parking. This new linear centrality reorganises the multiple traffic flows (pedestrian, bicycle, car, train, metro) as a series of visibly interconnected layers, reinforcing the existing topography of the park, streets, and station platform. Transparency and stratification contribute to giving a new image to the station as a public landmark and a backbone for future development.

The intensity of this mixed-use hub condition along the northern edge of the tracks is considered as a complementary counterpoint to the treatment of the southern border where an atmosphere of calm and quiet prevails along the canal with its promenade leading to the Poudrerie park to the east, and the installation of a new library as a future gate to the park. Together they form a new urban unity of flows and fragments, an “Edge City” that navigates the discontinuities of the periphery.

Xenia Slavina

Tutor(s)

2011
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