Greening up our cities: Bringing new value to new spaces in the Paris region

Abstract

Measures to green up cities and built-up areas have begun to spread faster in recent years. For architects, property developers, business property users and local communities, this no longer means reserving a small area of green space in urban and real estate planning, today, greening up means imagining buildings or even entire cities that carry plants and vegetation, with nature taking a dominant place. After years of being considered remote and obscure subjects by urban actors, especially businesses, greening up and biodiversity are now in the front line of debates. As urbanisation gathers pace across the planet and our natural environments become fragmented, devoting attention to these issues is a genuine factor for differentiation and greater appeal, as well as a channel for innovative positioning in sustainable development. But this new paradigm raises two questions concerning the meaning and true functions of greening up, and the technical and economic factors that must be taken into consideration by the real estate sector. This paper sets out to achieve a better grasp of what is at stake in greening up, especially greening up our buildings, and to identify the additional value it provides for businesses in addition to sustainability benefits. Against the dual background of the ‘Grand Paris’ plans for the Greater Paris area and the city council's aim to make Paris one of Europe's green capitals, the case of the Paris region is particularly interesting to explore.