Curbing urban sprawl

It's estimated that each year France loses over 300 square miles of farmland and open space.  That's about equal to the surface area of new York City; or about 4.5 times more than the size of the District of Columbia.  The same thing is happening in the U.S.  One report from a couple of years ago looked at land consumption in 274 U.S. metropolitan areas.  Researchers found that over the ten-year period 1990 to 2000 urban ooze had spread over something like 5,800 square miles.  And we have some idea of what this means for the environment -- lost farm lands and open spaces, more roads, more cars, etc.

© Sara Leen at environment.nationalgeographic.com

All of this creates interest (for me at least) in work going on in France's Ministry of Territorial Equality and Housing (Ministère de l'Égalité des Territoires et du Logement).  Cécile Duflot, the head of the ministry, has just made the first presentation of her agency's legislative project, a central part of which would be a series of measures meant to increase density in urban areas and limit this kind of land consumption.

The proposals, which are still being discussed within the government, could include the following:

• Make it easier to convert empty office buildings into residences.  It's estimated that France's stock of empty office space is about 54 million square feet (5 million square meters);
• Reduce parking requirements per unit;
• Allow residential buildings to increase height above connected, neighboring buildings;
• Reduce the minimum lot size in townhouse areas;
• Reclassify as natural lands after 10 years those lands eligible for development, but still undeveloped; and
• Transfer urban planning responsibilities from mayors to inter-communal bodies. 

Some of these could be enacted by governmental order; some, like the last, would require new legislation.

France's economy is having trouble generating much, if any, growth.  And François Hollande's government doesn't seem willing or able to do much to help.  With some justification, it's being criticized from all sides.  But here and there, with measures like the highly-visible same-sex marriage law, and this much less visible set of environmental proposals, the government is doing some good things and deserves credit.