Tours - A landscape approach to reinstate the dialogue between an urban area and its river

Abstract

The Tours area has, with the Loire river, an exceptional environment. A territory development plan, approved in 1994, reflects the wish of the whole city to revive its relation with the river. The author explains how the city and its elected officials have come up with a global planning directed towards a modern development. The latter is based on the design of a continuous pathway along the river, and on the structuration of a program to set up the landscape components, of rehabilitation of the built up areas, of development of the access to the river, of various patrimonial restorations, and of awareness campaigns. The landscape approach is based on a diagnosis differentiated depending on the sequence of the course and offers precise visual solutions for some very sensitive sectors.