Mennecy, France: A Well-Designed Community
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I accepted a month-long housesit in Mennecy. Set in Île de France and about 40 minutes by train from Paris, I anticipated a highly built-up area. I studied the map and wondered if it would be hard to get across the roads. I knew there was one large park (Parc Villeroy), but it was quite a long way away. There were stores in walking distance fortunately.
What a pleasant surprise to find that I’d be staying in a green, leafy community particularly well designed for pedestrians. The housing developments are built in clusters off the main roads with a 20 kph speed limit reinforced by speed bumps. The residential streetlights are turned off overnight – hallelujah for energy savings and a reduction in light pollution.
The houses are well landscaped with flower beds and hedges, and they’re interspersed by parks that vary in size from small to relatively large.
I particularly liked the way some residents had turned a variety of individual bushes into trimmed hedges.
Even the main roads have pedestrian crossings and wide sidewalks and they’re lined by flowering bushes and trees on berms to reduce the noise in neighbouring parks and residences. When I arrived, the main roads were lined with tulips and daffodils and many of the boulevards haven’t been mowed in the past month so the grass is tall and full of wild flowers and clover.
Parc Villeroy is a large tranquil forest but closer to hand was a bluebell wood surrounded by an old stone wall and neighbouring the school.
The residential developments are primarily single-family dwellings and townhouses, but they’ve begun to construct larger apartment buildings.
In the older town centre, there are still some original buildings. The Saturday market is surprisingly small, but there’s a lovely bakery, and the town has invited local entrepreneurs to use a storefront to sell their wares (clothes, jewellery, plants) on a rotating basis.
There are local producer markets once a month at the small shopping centre. The parking lots are on the outside of the shopping centre so pedestrians can walk back and forth between the stores and stop to chat with their neighbours without worrying about being run over. The only thing lacking is a café or coffee shop.
It’s good to know that it is possible to build a community that works for pedestrians and nature. (The photo below shows the road leading up to the bluebell wood.)
.