30

A 1992-1995 research program entitled « The Architecture of Modern Public Spaces » sought to draw architects into researching the public spaces of large housing estates in order to understand whether it might be possible to improve usage of such spaces. A great number of projects were implemented, which resulted in significant tear-down and, in most cases, the closing off of public space with fences aimed at limiting nuisance use and controlling circulation. Over the last few decades, cities including Paris, Toulouse and Bordeaux invested significant sums in the transformation of existing public spaces. Landscape designers, in particular Michel Corajoud, Alexandre Chemetov and, more recently, the TER Agency, were deeply involved in those projects. We can observe a certain back-and-forth between, on the one hand, the proponents of the modern city as represented by the Athens Charter and the Buchanan report, which include the creation of an artificial site as well as vast pedestrian esplanades; and, on the other hand, defenders of the traditional city advocating a return to « natural sites. » I will cite representative projects to demonstrate the ambiguities as well as the theoretical limits of the impulse to « naturalize » the site of a city.