La Ville Stationnaire Book Review. Arguments for a Change of Paradigm in Urban Development

The volume La ville stationnaire. Comment mettre fin à l’étalement urbain? authored by Philippe Bihouix, Sophie Jeantet and Clémence De Selva takes as its starting point the French “Climat et Résilience” (Climate and Resilience) law, which came into force in 2021. Although the act aims to produce a shift in the built environment favourable to the ecological transition, it is already creating difficulties in implementation. However, the authors argue that the objectives of the law are insufficient and propose even more drastic measures to reduce the environmental impact of towns and cities, in order to severely limit the possibility of building on land that has not previously been artificialised and without the currently allowed alternative of ecological compensation.

The authoritarian and controversial measures proposed by Bihouix, Jeantet and De Selva for the French case are theoretically applicable at European level and in any country with a similar development degree. However, the appropriateness of their application becomes problematic when environmental protection efforts conflict with the citizens’ economic aspirations. As the leverage for action is mainly the way cities develop, this publication is of interest to all actors involved in the process of transforming the built environment.