AURH Town planning agency of Le Havre and the Seine River

AURH
Town planning agency of Le Havre
and the Seine River Estuary area
An overview about who we are AND WHAT WE DO
Town planning and geography are our core business
AURH was created in 1965, as a French cope with the issue of daily travel by
non-profit association.
commuters between their homes and
their workplace.
We work for the « welfare » of the inha- Today, our president is the former
bitants of the city. We help politicians to mayor of the city of Le Havre,
understand the expectations of people Mr Antoine RUFENACHT.
(both in quantity and quality) and the
evolution society is undergoing. We try Fields of expertise
to respond to these expectations and We have several fields of expertise:
we propose solutions for transports, town planning, spatial planning, terriservices, housing, employment... and torial mapping, territorial project assisthe localization of all the components of tance, set-up of economic observatories
the social fabric for a better (and sus- and specific surveys on transport, logistainable) life. For instance: we try and tics, environment...
Team
We are a multidisciplinary team of 25
people: architects, town planners, sociologists, transport specialists, landscapist, geographers, GIS specialists...
Where
AURH is based in Upper-Normandy,
in Le Havre. We are part of the French
network of town planning agencies
(www.fnau-international.org). There are
about fifty town planning agencies in
France (one per big city).
Portsmouth
Shangaï
Dieppe
Hong-Kong
Dieppe
Fécamp
Rotterdam
Dakar
Amiens
Lille
Goderville
Criquetot-L’Esneval
Melbourne
Bolbec
Octeville-sur-Mer
Montivilliers
Sainte-Adresse
Saint-Romain
de Colbosc
Gonfreville-l’Orcher
Harfleur
Le Havre
Gruchet-Le-Valasse
Lillebonne
Caudebec-en-Caux
Notre-Damede-Gravenchon
Rouen
Honfleur
Trouville-sur-Mer
Deauville
Beuzeville
Pont-Audemer
Dives-sur-Mer
Cabourg
Cabo
Pont-l’Evêque
Cherbourg
Rennes
Nantes
Bordeaux
Lisieux
Caen
Paris
Mezidon-Canon
Le Mans
Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives
Livarot
Orbec
Paris
Le Mans
Le Mans
Bordeaux
Toulouse
Orléans

conducting specific the- lopment organizations. We principally
matic studies (urban policy, hou- respond to briefs by elected officers,
The AURH works on the Seine River
we help them clarify their thinking
sing, commerce, urban transport...)
Estuary scale (since 2002) which is
before they make decisions.
a pretty original territory because it
launching
prospective Our activity is not directly operational,
exceeds the administrative borders of
the Region. We work on both sides studies: Seine Axis, European we work with many actors at different
stages and different timelines for the
of Seine, both in Upper and Lower project...
future of the territory. In fact we are a
Normandy (2 administrative regions
source of ideas for politicians (elected
Our
membership:
partners
linked by the bridge of Normandy).
officers) and we often propose controand sponsors
The Seine River Estuary has 600 000 We closely work for and with our versial and innovative point of view. It
is also our role to provoke debates and
inhabitants. It is a rich territory due to membership which are composed of raise up new ideas.
its diversity: ports, industry (on nor- partners like: city of Le Havre, towns
thern bank), famous seaside resort around Le Havre (CODAH), Territories
of the Seine Estuary, State services, Different scales of
(with Deauville, Honfleur...).
Upper-Normandy, Lower-Normandie, Analysis
The Chambers of Commerce, Port of We can work at different scales: neighWe have 4 main missions:
Le Havre, Port of Rouen European borhood, city, Seine River Estuary...
observing (the economy, real Union... They are our customers, For 3 years, we’ve been broadening
funders, and our partners. This is a our forecasting scale and we’ve worestate, population, housing market...)
non exhaustive list.
king on the Seine River Valley from
drawing up territorial pro- We are not involved with the private Paris to Le Havre, and North-West
jects, planning, local plans of sector. We work for (and with) cities, Europe.
town planning, masterplan
local authorities and for economic deve-
4 Main missions


©DGI - CODAH - ©AURH 2012

Exemple of different scales of work: a town planning project for the city of Le Havre and a map of the main freight ferry line in
North-West Europe area (extract from the atlas of the major North-West European freight infrastructures)
of gateway in the goal to adapt this at
a territory. The Seine Gateway should
allow the opening on to the seaside of
The Seine Gateway project is proposed Paris.
and supported by AURH. Today, it is
our trademark. Indeed we are trying to The Seine Gateway is an efficient
build step by step the Seine Gateway, a system of production and distribution. It
scheme that is similar to the Extended is an efficient organization of the Seine
Gateway in Belgium or the Thames Ga- River Valley territory, to foster a stronger
teway in Great Britain.
production economy, transport infrastructures with efficient services, ports
What do we mean by gateway? The that start to work together, platforms
word comes from computing language for dispatching, processing and distribuand we choose to develop our definition ting of goods...
Our vision: Seine gateway®
project
Like the Thames Gateway which has
created a new model of development
from the world city of London to its coastline and its estuary, the Seine Gateway
proposes a new model of development
for Paris towards its river frontage and
its Norman coastline. The construction
of the geostrategic position of the Seine
Gateway is based both on the location of
the axis Le Havre - Rouen - Paris and
Normandy coast connected with all the
coastal ports from Cherbourg to Dieppe.
Weastflows: Interactions between
the project relations and TEN-T corridors.
European integration of the
Seine Gateway®
At the continental scale, the project Seine
Gateway is a part of the Western Europe
system.
Since 2011, the AURH is engaged in European project called « Weastflows » (INTERREG IV B - North-West Europe).
Seine Gateway®
The overall issue of Weastflows is to create
better links (East-West) in Europe between
territories, especially between our gateways,
and also to create a network beyond the
territorial competition. Weastflows has to
be a kind of economic war machine facing
the globalization of the economy. The Seine
Gateway could be and must be a major part
of this European network and an essential
hub in the European transport system.
As a partner of this European project, our
prior objective is to link the port of Le Havre
and the Seine Gateway to the main European corridors of freight. Le Havre and the
Seine River Estuary are often considered as
a dead end territory, whereas it should be
seen as a gate open onto the world.
A rich territory due to its diversity:
port, industry, famous seaside resort
(Deauville, Honfleur...), famous
countryside landscape...
© www.calvados-tourisme.com
© AURH
© Sanctuaire Sainte Thérèse
© Vincent Rustuel - Caux Estuaire
© OT Lisieux Lintercom
© OIT Fécamp
Le Havre, an original city
Rebuilt in concrete by Auguste Perret after
World War II, Le Havre has been classified as
Heritage Site by Unesco in 2005.
© Patrice Le Bris
© LHD - Vincent Rustuel
© Patrice Le Bris
© Hilke Maunder
© OTAH
Largest French container port, capable
of welcoming the biggest cruise ships...
Le Havre’s life is punctuaded by the
ships’ ballet.
© Patrice Le Bris
Contacts:
© AURH
AURH - Agence d’Urbanisme de la Région du Havre et de l’Estuaire de la Seine
Town Planning Agency of Le Havre and the Seine Estuary area
4 quai Guillaume Le Testu - 76063 LE HAVRE CEDEX FRANCE
tel: +33 (0)2.35.42.17.88
mail: aurh@aurh.fr - web: www.aurh.asso.fr - blog: www.aurhinweastflows.com
NASA Johnson Space Center - http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov - Mission STS047 - Roll Frame:94 – 6
The Seine Estuary