City Presentation and Challenges

Grenoble-Alpes Métropole is an intercommunal structure, centred on the city of Grenoble. Comprising 49 municipalities and 450.000 inhabitants, it is located in the Isère department, eastern France close the French Alps and has been for a number of years at the forefront of the sustainable city transformation in Europe.

Ambition and Vision

The Metropole is carrying out GRANDALPE 25, an ambitious development project which aims to make the area under consideration an active living space, an innovative economic hub, and a leader in new mobility. The project is also intended to showcase an example of ecological transition, which will mobilise all the available resources and assets to strive to build a city without fossil fuels.

The general approach guiding GRANDALPE 25, called “Fabrique de la ville”, has 3 main overarching principles at its core:

1. Promoting the voice of citizens in its development (co-creation),
2. Mixing culture and art in the project,
3. Developing tactical urbanism.

Experimentation area

The GrandAlpe area is characterized by dense urbanization primarily focused on automobiles, a legacy from the rapid development of the city in the 1960s and 1970s, notably during the 1968 Olympic Games.

Despite its currently stigmatized urban character, the area has numerous strengths that allow envisioning a radically different future:

• 70 hectares of green spaces, including the largest park in the Metropolis.
• Commercial and leisure facilities that have an impact on the metropolitan and regional scale: Grand’Place, Alpexpo, Summum, Polesud ice rink, Dolphins’ pool, etc.
• Presence of major national and international companies that establish and expand their operations there, such as Artelia, Atos, Caterpillar, General Electric, Hewlett Packard, or Schneider (Atos launched its European artificial intelligence research laboratory there in 2022).
• Several higher education institutions: University Hospital Center Sud (CHU Grenoble Alpes), School of Architecture (ENSAG), Alpine Institute of Urbanism and Geography (IUGA), Institute of Crafts and Techniques (IMT), Institute of Communication and Media (ICM), etc.
• Convenient transportation options: direct connection to the southern ring road, tramway, two high-potential transportation hubs (Grand’Place and Echirolles station).
• Numerous available or potentially transforming land plots.

GrandAlpe 25 project: the main guidelines 

Enhanced Community living and solidarity:

• Integrate various urban activities and functions.
• Provide a high-quality, calm, and secure living environment.
• Foster collaboration with schools and higher education institutions.
• Prioritize urban well-being: reduce exposure to traffic-related nuisances (air quality and noise), address heatwaves, promote physical activity, and strengthen social bonds.

 Environment:

• Demonstrate environmental leadership in all developments.
• Enhance the presence of nature in the city and materialize the concept of a “park city.”
• Focus on transitioning to a city without fossil fuels.

 Reinforcement of a Major Economic Hub to Increase Attractiveness:

• Enhance the value of evolving sites.
• Promote “city of the future” and digital sectors.
• Connect economic sites to major public facilities, businesses, restaurants, transportation systems, and high-quality public spaces.
• Strengthen Alpexpo as an essential hub for business tourism.

 Development of different types of Mobility:

• Establish a metropolitan RER (Regional Express Network) serving the Echirolles station as a new gateway to the area.
• Redevelop public spaces to facilitate the movement of cyclists and pedestrians.

Fostering Synergy and Partnership within a Community of Stakeholders:

• Implement a Partnership Development Project (PDP) with the State, the Department, the three municipalities, SMMAG, and EPFL.
• Establish a partnership committee bringing together economic and institutional stakeholders in the region.