Here’s a better example of sustainability in the parks of Paris. I wrote the other day about the park department’s rather ham-fisted attempts to introduce biodiversity in the grand parc Monceau in the 8th arrondissement. Today I saw a much better version.
It was in le jardin de la Folie Titon, a neighbourhood park in a fairly gritty part of the 11th arrondissement. Once this was a grand country estate on the outskirts of Paris, owned by Louis XIV’s secretary Évrard Titon du Tillet. It later became a wallpaper factory and, when that was demolished, in 2007 the city created this little (0.5 hectare) park.
There is a splendid 150 square metre pond with a viewing platform, designed to encourage biodiversity, various beds of woody plants with informative but unobtrusive botanical signs, and a jardin partagé – thirteen allotments gardened by (among others) local school children and a group of people in wheelchairs. These features are complemented by an area of lawn with amphitheatre style seating, small playgrounds and a sandpit.
It’s well-maintained, informative and popular, and seems to me an excellent example of how to create a sustainable and attractive public park.
And it’s really close to my neighborhood !
Thanks a lot for this article, on a promising green attitude
Gabriel
This park looks lovely and well scaled, and has such a nice mix of components. A good sized lawn area for play and with seating for observation, a pond that looks as though it has always been there, and an inviting shaded boardwalk path. A gem. Thank you for giving me a tour, and I add it, too, to my list of destinations.
Maggie, thanks. It rather supports your comment on an earlier post that it is much easier to create a park with the aim of sustainability rather than graft the idea onto an existing, incompatible design form.
I heard today about another new park in Paris, this time on the left bank, designed all out apparently for biodiversity and sustainability, and hope to visit and report later this week.
The park looks a well designed project and invites you to walk around and enjoy nature. Did you like the signage? Great idea that allotments are maintained by school children. Very nice post!
[...] parks – arguably in a rather clumsy way at the grand parc Monceau, and more successfully at a pleasant new neighbourhood park in the 11th [...]