As economist Robin Rivaton points out, “Some people wonder if people will leave the cities. That’s not what we’re seeing.” He does note a search for individual houses,“but not a fundamental movement that would translate a disaffection for cities”. “There will not be a more homogeneous distribution of the population on the territory”, insists the economist, who believes that the phenomenon of metropolization will, on the contrary, continue.
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As proof, Bouygues Real Estate has made public the results of a survey conducted at the beginning of the year via its developer UrbanEra, in order to “learn more about the housing dreams of the French”, and to “involve end users more in the design of its future projects”.
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Main lesson: more than a year after the beginning of the health crisis, the French do not all dream of leaving large urban centers. On the other hand, they would like to live in a “village in the city” says Laurent Michelin, director of innovation at Bouygues Immobilier. The major current trends have even been reinforced by the effects of the pandemic, says the developer. Thus, the participants in this citizen consultation were overwhelmingly in favor of a friendly, calm neighborhood with a strong presence of nature.
It is very interesting to note that real estate will have to reinvent itself constantly from now on. By multiplying the surveys on the different targets and in the context of the post COVID 19, the operators are trying to position themselves in the sustainability by designing and steering projects that give pride of place to mixed uses.
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Some experts, invited to speak at an ESTP Paris conference on “project managers in the future world”, believe that neither residential choices nor the real estate offer will change drastically once the crisis is over.
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Indeed, the cursors are moving: more environment, space and safety, as in the Joia Méridia program in Nice with the creation of a neighborhood eco-sphere that cultivates the art of well-being. The goal is to multiply indoor-outdoor spaces in order to make the most of the pleasant Mediterranean climate, warm in the summer and bright in the winter.
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The duality, according to Robin Rivaton, lies in the fact that “the issue is not the density of cities but the overcrowding of housing”. “That’s why the pandemic has spread so severely in Seine-Saint-Denis, in the northern districts of London, or in Brooklyn”. For him, the issue is not so much to produce different housing, but to produce it to meet the demand. And, from this point of view, “the collapse of building permits is dramatic”.
