From the beginning of the 20^th Century up until the 1950s, several waves of urbanization have succeeded in considerably transforming the face of the region east of the Seine near Saint Denis, while leaving the territories to the west relatively untouched. These areas, still containing available space, represent an urban strategic front for the expansion of the capital, for the coming of the Grand Paris (Greater Paris) metropolis.

A number of stations of the Grand Paris Express, a new rapid transit line, will serve this near suburb.

Within this context, the Seine Saint Denis area still contains today numerous pockets of remarkable nature. These pockets remain difficult to perceive, too often defaced or hidden by an urban fabric marked with networks of infrastructure and more recent residential and commercial architectural projects. The focus of our project lies in preserving these spaces and affirming their essential role in the implementation of a larger scale densification strategy. End to end, they constitute key positions in an arc of pathways, in a potential north to south ecological continuity.

Renovated and redesigned, each of these sites will complement the already existing network of wooded public spaces across five municipalities. The future transit stations will open onto this arc, establishing a lasting presence of Nature at the entryways to the city.