Europan Reims

Client: Europan
Project team: Ana Zatezalo Schenk, Cedomir Ristic, Natasa Vukosaljevic, Mateja Zivadinovic, Nikolina Zugic , Miona Vasic,  Nikola Stamenkovic

Location: Reims, France
Surface: 222.155 sqm
Category: competition
Year: 2011

Reims is a city in north-east France, 45 minutes from Paris by the TGV Est (high-speed train) and at the

heart of a rich agricultural and winegrowing region which is home to most of the best “Champagne”

vintages. Situated in the Marne Department and the Champagne Ardenne Region, it enjoys a privileged

position on the edge of the Paris basin, served by three motorways (A 4 Paris – Strasbourg, A 26 Calais -

Dijon, and A 34 Reims – Sedan).

Reims, France’s 12th city in terms of population, is the centre of its 29th largest conurbation. This

characteristic is a result of the compactness of the city centre, which on its own accounts for 87% of the

conurbation’s total population, and is also explained by a low level of city centre overspill and relatively

limited suburban sprawl.

Because of this feature, there is a shortage of available development land, so mobilizing all available land

potential has become a major priority for the city’s planning processes.

The Reims landscape is therefore characterised by an absence of urban sprawl. Squeezed into the

Champagne Crayeuse landscape, with its uniform topography, the city offers on approach the appearance of a continuous built frontage.

Given this rich heritage and the features of the landscape, one of the priorities of Reims’ planning and

sustainable development policy is to maintain the balance between urban development, protection of the

environment and quality of landscape.

In particular, the emphasis is on enhancing the quality of public space, which structures the city and

models its landscapes, by developing its natural components and promoting green forms of travel.

Another priority is to structure mobility and organize transport: promoting safe and high-quality public

space by encouraging use of the bicycle, improving public transport by developing intermodality, in

particular to facilitate links between residential and employment areas, by creating dedicated public

transport lanes and improving accessibility.