LYON PART DIEU, HUB METROPOLITANO CONTEMPORANEO

Lyon Part Dieu, contemporary metropolitan hub. By François Decoster, Djamel Klouche and Caroline Poulin. This article introduces a series of concepts developed by the AUC in its research on the theme of mobility, transportation, and stations in contemporary cities. The “inexorable station” in fact debates the need, for contemporary stations and more in general transportation venues, to evolve as projects for open spaces, to be porous with respect to the city while establishing with it an organic relationship. Stations are not just specialized venues dedicated to transportation, but more than ever they are becoming “initiators”, essential levers for urban development and regeneration in today’s major cities. Based on this thesis, the Lyon Part-Dieu project, which was initiated in 2009 by the Urban Community of GreaterLyon, designed and monitored by AUC in support of the Part-Dieu Mission, demonstrates how the transformation of the primary railway station in the city of Lyon is part of a larger project that extends far beyond its perimeter, and beyond the question of integrating transport infrastructure into the city, making it an “open station” at the heart of a dynamic process of urban regeneration on the greater scale of the district, its public spaces, and its economic and social components, expressed in the concepts of “Contemporary Metropolitan Hub”, “Open Station” and “Easy Ground”.