Saint-Étienne : West Stéphanois Urban Project

This is a strategy with a system of specialised hubs which are legible on a metropolitan scale and also at the same time firmly rooted in the Saint Etienne region: the Cité du Design, Optical Vision hub, Cité des Affaires in Châteaucreux, the university hub … Couriot is the western hub of the Saint-Étienne urban project. The strategy to make this site an urban initiator is distinctively anchored in the local area: geographically (the edges of the site correspond to the redevelopment project of the neighbourhoods that surround it), but also symbolically (the economy and the history of the mine in the economy and history of Saint-Étienne).

The real uniqueness of Couriot lies in the projected uses and role for the park: it is both a “green oasis” surrounding the Mine Museum (a place of destination) and a local space for the neighbourhood. Couriot can therefore combine together all the ingredients of Saint-Etienne’s urban strategy: image, public space, themed design and rehabilitation of the local area (including the working-class neighbourhoods, the memory of the mine and the people of the mine, etc.).