EURALILLE:

Centre International d’Affaires

Lille, France

Learning from the

Reconciliation Process
of Large-scale
Urban Infrastructure
and Transportation Hub
Hypothesis

Lille, a formerly significant city, was leading a slightly melancholy existence. Once a
mining and textile town, it had fallen into hard times. But the tunnel between England
and the continent and the TGV network will transform Lille as if by magic and make it
important in a completely synthetic way.

Rem Koolhaas, SMLXL, 1995

How to Master Plan Such a
Successful Urban Design System?
The French Way of Urban Planning

The French government

implemented the concept of société
d ’aménagement d ’économie mixte
where private company with a public
private ownership is being used for
urban development projects such as
Lille.

Public Capitals:
51%
Private Financial Investors:
49%

Public Privilege:
Expropriation and Subventions of any
New Urban Development Proposals.

Euralille: First and second phase development mediating the city.

How Does Lille Work?

1. Transforming a former industrial city

as a new business center for West
Europe.

2. Intersection of major north-south and

east-west axes.

3. Reduced traveling times through train

and tunnel combined.

4. Center of gravity for the virtual

community of 50 million Western
Europeans.

Yellow Line: TGV trajectory cutting through the Lille development masterplan.
Minimizing the Importance of Distance Between Places

Hypothetically, anyone from London, Paris, or Brussels are actually ‘in’ Lille because
the traveling distance form Lille – London would be faster than Kent – London, and
is also closer to the city of London than traveling between London and some other
parts of greater London itself. It is also much cheaper to set up a business hub in
Lille than in London or Paris. By having Lille, Europe is being shrunken in terms of
traveling time.

1990 2000 2020

‘Shrinking Europe’: reducing traveling time across the European continent.

Why Lille Became Successful?

What is important about Lille is not where it is, but where it leads, and how quickly.

70 mins from London

50 mins from Paris

18 mins from Brussels

Master Plan

Phasing plans for an efficient master plan development process.

Master Plan
Lille’s Programmatic Distribution

1. Station

Eurostar Line (TGV): London-Paris-Brussels Program: (1) Gare de Lille-Europe: Eurostar/

and other major centers in France such as international and high speed trains and (2)
Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse Gare de Lille-Flandres: lower speed trains and
other domestic destinations

Station - Jean-Marie Duthilleul; Office Tower - Christian de Portzamparc

Lille’s Programmatic Distribution

2. Shopping Centers

Program: 1 hypermarket (10, 000 sqm.) + 120 shops

Turnover: 214 million Euro/year
Visitors: 14,000/year

Commercial Center - Jean Nouvel

Lille’s Programmatic Distribution

3. Lille Grand Palais (Congrexpo)

Program: 18,000 sqm. exposition arena with 5000 seats

with 3 congress hall and meeting rooms
Turnover: 9 million Euro/year
Visitors: 1 million/year

Congrexpo - Rem Koolhaas/ OMA

Lille’s Programmatic Distribution

4. Rock Music Concert Hall

Program: 1 hall with 400 seats and 1 hall with 1500 seats

5. Offices 6. Hotels
Program: 63,000 sqm. office space Program: 2 hotels with 200 rooms each
Occupancy: 100%

7. Accommodations 8. University
Program: 700 units 1500 students
Occupancy: 95%

9. Green Areas 10. Parking Space

8 hectares 6000 units
First Thing First: Infrastructure

Preparing infrastructural facilities: holistic planning approach was undertaken to make Lille a success.
A Transformed City: 15 Years After Euralille

1. Lille has become one of Europe’s most important service industry

center, comprising of first class financial and commercial facilities, center for
industrial production and a world class university.

2. Euralille has transformed the city of Lille as the new real estate, finance
and food industry distribution hub for West Europe.
3. Growth of new industries such as biomedical, information technology,
technical textile and multimedia services.
4. Home for more than 30 multinational corporate companies.
5. Euralille Station and its strategic connectivity with other parts of
Western Europe contributed to the city and image marketing.
Future Development: Master Plan Expansion
Strategies Adopted in Master Planning

Leadership and Enforcement of a City Vision

1. Strong political will to pull the city up to the rank of big international metropolises.
2. A vision was created to decide which infrastructures and which equipments to realize and how
they could meet the citizens’ needs and respond to global and sustainable development.

Identifying Axes and Priorities

1. Stakeholders identify the strengths and the weaknesses of Lille Métropole before going to the
actual action plan.
2. Priorities were thus turning around sustainable development; through housing policy (social mix
is a core issue), employment creation, and a renewed mobility culture, control of urban sprawl
and preservation of rural spaces.

Involvement of Citizens
1. The elaboration of the Master plan has been very useful to identify strengths and weaknesses,
to channel the demands and to help building a new vision for the metropolis and its citizens.
Example of Euralille’s Master Planning Success
Usage by Inhabitants*

INHABITANTS IN THE INHABITANTS’

TRANSPORT MODE
DISTRICT OF EURALILLE AVERAGE USE

Walking 53% 43%

Parking 17% 12%

Car 28% 43%

Bicycle 1% 1%

Two-wheel Motorized 0% 0%

Others 1% 1%

Euralille: New Development in the Centre of Lille Urban Area by Olivier Cormier (2000)
Conclusion

Train Network
By integrating Lille with other parts of the EU, high speed rail network, services between London and
Brussels have greatly increased, whether for business or for pleasure. The result is not only in a
major development in leisure tourism for the Lille metropolis through visitors from neighboring
countries but also by the increasing numbers of hotels.

Shopping Center
Offers a varied range of products comparable to those sold in suburban shopping centres, but it
accessibility by walking, using public transport or the car, has resulted in the inhabitants of Lille and
its outlying areas modifying their shopping habits.

Housing
Homes built on the Euralille site contribute to make it as a residential area, which is attracting
people more and more. New housing programmes are being completed and should contribute to
intensify this aspect of the Euralille project.
References

(1) Koolhaas, R. & Mau, B. (1995) Quantum Leap, SMLXL, The Monacelli Press, New York.

(2) Wall, E. & Waterman, T. (2009) Basic Landscape Architecture: Urban Design, AVA Book,
Switzerland.

(3) L’Hours, C (1998) Life after Euralille : The Changing Metropolis, Agence de développement
et d'urbanisme de Lille Métropole17, France.

(4) Cormier, O. (2000) New Development In the Centre of the Lille Urban Area, the Agency for
Urban Development and Town Planning in the Lille Metropolis, France.

(5) Delpont, A. (2002) Emerging Property Development Opportunities: The Case of Lille, Urban
Land Institute, France.
Hafiz Amirrol, Michael Lengkey, Chichi Asda
Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia, 2010