Housing, habitat, this is a central question on which the sociologist Jean Viard, guest of franceinfo works every weekend. In his report, drawn up after consulting 4,000 citizens and numerous experts, a sort of great debate, thea Minister of Housing, Emmanuelle d’Argon, puts its feet in the dish a little. She begins by explaining that the dream of pavilions with a garden, to which a large majority of French people aspire, is not compatible with environmental issues. We must propose another ideal.
franceinfo: Jean Viard, is this dream of pavilions with gardens evaporating? What can replace it?
Jean Viard: I think this dream will not evaporate and it will not evaporate. Since the war, we have been pushing for high-rise housing and urban density because it is more rational, including because we can industrialize the building and because we say to ourselves that there is less movement. , cars, etc. This is understandable very well, but nevertheless we have built 16 million houses with gardens for 12 million apartments, and 63% of French people have a garden, and that of the 12 million apartments, there are almost half of them actually have access to a second home. Because the second home is often family. It’s not just for a couple.
So there are two models, and there is in the middle, between the two, six or seven million people who have only one apartment in the city. Often, obviously, in working-class neighborhoods, that seems to me to be the first element. The idea is to see nature. We need it even more after the pandemic or to see heritage. There are towns like Rennes that have done a fantastic job of “archipelago city” by putting all the accommodation around the farms, so that everyone sees either a farm, a forest, or part of the urban heritage.
But fundamentally, the big question is the densification of what we have built since the war around Paris, and around Marseille. Because the Bouches-du-Rhône and the Ile de France are the two large territories in crisis. This is where there is a housing crisis. This is where there are clashes between rich municipalities that do not want to build and poorer municipalities. This is really where there is a crisis. You don’t have to say it’s everywhere. It’s mostly there.
An architect’s report cited by our colleagues from the newspaper The world specifies that even today, the new apartments are too small, too low ceiling, and they have only one orientation, moreover, which prevents drafts when it is hot. We come back to this question of living in height, okay, but with much more comfort?
Yes, and then it’s completely scandalous that we have made housing so small thanks to tax exemptions, etc. And the idea of making drafts so as not to turn on the air conditioning or not to put it on, that should seem totally obvious. It is very much speculation but I know these figures, I saw the report which was made by these architects and I am quite scandalized that it was not made before. We are stuck in a world of standards, absolutely all day long, and we build apartments that are too low ceiling, and too small. Excuse me, but hey, if we evolve on this, that’s fine.
But it is not to build buildings in the peri-urban area, it is to increase the number of houses. Basically, in the beginning, the subdivisions were 2,500 square meters of land. Now, we are making subdivisions with land of 300 square meters, and 300 square meters, in reality, that’s enough for you, it allows you to go outside, even have a small swimming pool, etc. To be protected by vegetation, to have the view, to have the sun. I strongly believe in the densification of the peri-urban area, its reorganization into an archipelago, between forests, farms and heritage. It allows a densification of the social bond, so that has enormous advantages.
Another point in this report, the influence of teleworking, of course, which has accelerated in recent months. The influence of teleworking on the habitat of tomorrow. And for the Minister of Housing, teleworking is not teleworking from home, but rather downstairs, in expressly open places where it is pleasant to sit down to work: third places …
She is absolutely right. There are already two teleworks: the flexibility telework, say instead of coming home on Sunday evening, I return on Monday or once, I stay two more days. Well, that will be done at home, but that is a telework that complements the main work. And then there is the truly structuring telework, where you work two or three days a week at home. And at that moment, the central place is the third place. There is a lack of 10,000 third places in France.
What is a third place? It’s basically a business, a building where you arrive with your computer, you can eat. There may be a connection of utility houses, and therefore people can come and do their taxes, there may be an official who makes that for the elderly and people who do not know how to use digital technology, it is a terminal.
But basically I say this is the new home of the digital people. You have to think of it like that. And at that time, you belong to two work groups: that of your company, where you have to go at least once a week or other, and on the other side, you have this place, but it is the same people you see in the market, same people you meet when you come out of college. So, it densifies the social bond, it is absolutely essential for the peace of society, for the happiness of the actors, of the inhabitants.