A confirmed environmental culture

With the return of the tramway to its urban landscape in 1994, with an attractive, modern, practical, environmentally-friendly tram, Strasbourg established for itself a reputation as a pioneer. And today, the city continues to hold all the records: with its 53 km of commercial lines, its 5 existing lines (a sixth is planned for 2010) and its 66 stations, its network is the longest in France and the only one to be meshed.

Its low floors facilitate access for people with reduced mobility or boarding with pushchairs, whilst its windows keep the passengers on a level with the street. Almost 300,000 people use it every day. Over the last fifteen years, the tram has become the cornerstone of a vast public transport policy that encourages alternatives to the car and invites road users to multiple travel combinations: tram-bike, tram-walking, trambus, tram-train, tram-car pool. The symbol of ecomobility, the tram is also a fantastic social vector and a guarantee of improved access to some parts of the city, in particular those situated along the Rhine. In a few years’ time, it will also put Kehl, in Germany, within easy reach.

The city has long been trying to lower its level of pollution, reduce road traffic congestion and save energy by encouraging soft modes of transport. This effort, a necessity in view of our close proximity with Germany, began to take root in the 1970s with the appearance of cycle tracks, of which the city now has almost 500 km. In this field, Strasbourg is once again a champion: it is France’s most cyclable city. No less than 130,000 cyclists regularly use the cycle tracks. They have at their disposal about fifty bike parks and some 6,000 bike stands to park their wheels.

Many other innovative projects are currently being planned or developed in this pilot city:

> car pooling, which already exists, with a scheme organized by the association “Auto’trement” with the encouragement of Roland Ries, Mayor of Strasbourg at the time. This service consists of sharing the costs and optimizing the time a vehicle is used by making it available to other people

> a “street code”, intended to increase the protection of pedestrians

> pedestrian priority zones, open to all road users, but where the pedestrian has priority

> the tram-train: thanks to a new type of vehicle able to run on both rail tracks and the tram lines, it will be possible to connect Strasbourg centre and station with the foothills of the Vosges, a mountainous area situated to the west of the city

> the “Module Cristal”, a new generation electric car, invented by an Alsatian company, Lohr Industrie, which it will be possible to rent for city centre trips. Since June 2007 the city has also been connected to Paris in 2 hrs 20 mins by the TGV-Est, which in the years to come should be extended into Germany and later as far as Budapest. A connection with the TGV Rhine- Rhône is also planned, making Strasbourg a major European rail hub.

For the city council, however, the environmental issue is not limited to just the promotion of public transport or clean modes of transport: it is currently involved in the introduction of a “Climate plan”, which embraces globally the management of sustainable development for the whole of the urban area, including for example the energy aspects of housing. What is at stake is to join the club of cities leading the way in this field.

To put this plan into practice and encourage new practices, numerous initiatives have been decided that will help protect the environment:

> The local authority itself has a duty to set an example: it intends to divide its greenhouse gas emissions by two by 2025. In this perspective, for the last year all public building projects have aimed to achieve a «LCB» (Low Consumption Building) performance objective, in anticipation of the new thermal regulations that come into force in 2010 throughout France. The main sources of greenhouse gas emissions have now been identified in the city and the urban community’s stock of buildings and installations; an experiment in energy monitoring is now underway in certain schools, along with an awareness-raising campaign among the pupils; the local authority’s departments have expanded their fleet of natural gas-fuelled vehicles.

> Green neighbourhoods will replace brownfield development sites. Environmentally-friendly, they will be economical in their use of space and resources, will use sustainable materials, be accessible to public transport and guarantee a socially mixed population. Four projects of this type are today in the pre-operational phase. Strasbourg’s ambition is to become a reference in this field: at the beginning of 2010, it will organize a European conference on the theme of “mobility in green neighbourhoods and in the sustainable city”.

> Several thousand new housing units will be built according to high-energy performance criteria. More generally, a wideranging urban renovation policy is currently being implemented in the Strasbourg urban area. Grants are available to improve private housing in particular, on the condition that energy consumption is reduced.

> The “zerophyto” initiative sets milestones on the path to the total and permanent elimination of phytosanitary products. The aim is to protect the natural resource that is the largest aquifer in Europe. In one year the use of phytosanitary products has been cut six-fold by the city departments responsible for maintaining public spaces, parks and gardens, roads, cemeteries, school yards and sports grounds. Areas which until now were paved or gravelled have now been grassed, an appreciable contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gases by fixing carbon. A comprehensive project to renovate school yards, supported by local authorities, provides for the creation of natural areas, the planting of fruit trees, the introduction of educational gardens and drinking fountains, as well as the generalization of environmental education.

> Food distribution channels will be shortened. Relying on a long tradition of market gardening in Strasbourg, the local authority is preparing to launch a policy on peri-urban agriculture resolutely focused on organic farming. Initially, this will involve renewing the school meals offer in the city’s 38 establishments to offer a more balanced, more diverse diet, more in line with sustainable development policies. The carbon footprint of the meals served will be calculated, for example. Later on, a wider distribution to the rest of the population may be proposed based on a system of decentralized cooperatives.

> The 6,500 allotments in the Strasbourg urban area will be retained. Covering a surface area of 170 hectares, these allotments first appeared in 1914, during the First World War, at a time when the city was cruelly lacking in food supplies. These allotments not only enhance the urban landscape, but also encourage the city’s inhabitants to enhance it themselves. Strasbourg is the French city which features the most of this type of space.