Cities4PEDs Atlas_November 2021.pdf

Development process
In the early 19th century the land between the
rivers was reconstructed and a railway station
was situated there. The first studies for potential
changes of the area were conducted in the
1990s. In 2003, the development of the new
Confluence district started with the intent to
extend the inner city of Lyon. Approximately
half of the district (green area in Figure 2) is
characterized by existing buildings, the other
half will be newly constructed. Over the
course of two building phases, new buildings
will be constructed and existing buildings
will be retrofitted. To make this possible, a
development company was created by the city
and the greater Lyon Authority to take care of
the district and to design and implement the
masterplan. The development company had to
deal in the first place with the bad reputation
and social issues of the district. After years of
refurbishing public spaces to make changes
visible for inhabitants and creating affordable
housing, the project has become successful.
Even though energy was not an important issue
in the beginning, its importance is continuously
growing. New concepts are often tested in
Confluence in form of projects, financed
through partnerships and then reproduced
Figure: Lyon Confluence
mission and budget, which are described further
in the next paragraph. This company will be
dissolved or their contract will be changed as
soon as the project is finished. A board of only
public shareholders meets every 3-4 months to
validate changes in development plans. During
more than ten years, the president of the SPL
Lyon Confluence was the mayor of Lyon, as well
as the president of the Greater Lyon Authority.
This provided a stable governance and strong
political support for the Lyon-Confluence urban
project. The developers (private owners, social
housing developers, public facilities, real estate
developers) were not easy to convince in the
beginning due to the area’s bad reputation
but they have been crucial for the ambitious
plans. Due to the improvement of the area,
the developer’s interest and willingness to
implement superior construction are high. The
citizens’ support was vital for the development
and was achieved by PR and a strong
involvement of citizens in the development
process.
Institutional organisation and legal
instruments
The founded development company Lyon
Confluence consist of urban developers who are
in charge of creating and editing the quarter’s
masterplan, designing public space, conducting
studies, communicating with relevant
stakeholders and selling ground to developers.
When a ground is sold, the development
company sets guidelines in the respective land
selling contracts and supports the developers
to fulfil them (e.g. concerning public spaces,
refurbishment, percentage of social housing,
architectural aspects and environmental
performance). To create ambition, the guidelines
are stricter than the current French building
regulations. Besides selling the ground,
without subsidies.
Stakeholders
Working document
The city and municipalities of the greater Lyon
Authority wanted to refurbish the area and
therefore created a private special purpose
company (SPL Lyon Confluence) with public
authorities as shareholders to take care of the
district development (25 employees with private
contracts). A contract between the shareholders
and the development company specifies their
Figure: Lyon Confluence
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