Promenade Plantée

Promenade Plantée seen from above
Project box

Geographical area: Europe

Location: Paris, France

City size: Large (between 1,000,000 and 5,000,000 inhabitants)

Promoter: City of Paris

Developer: SEMAEST

Start year:

End-year:

Implementation phase: Completed

Project size: Street

Total area of intervention (in sqm): 65.000

Total investments (in USD): 25 million

Project overview

The Promenade Plantée, also known as Coulée verte René-Dumont, is a notable example of infrastructural adaptive reuse in urban areas. It is a 4.5-kilometre and 65.000 sqm wide elevated linear park in Paris’ 12th arrondissement, constructed atop the disused Vincennes railway line. Originally opened in 1859, the line connected the Gare de la Bastille to Verneuil-l'Étang via Vincennes and served as a key industrial-age corridor until its closure in 1969. While the section beyond Vincennes was integrated into RER Line A, the inner Paris portion was entirely abandoned.

Following its decommissioning, the abandoned rail infrastructure was acquired by the City of Paris from the Société nationale des chemins de fer français (SNCF), France's national state-owned railway company, and went through a period of informal occupation. By the 1970s and 1980s, the space had become the place for both lawful and unlawful activities and a cause of disturbance to public peace. At the same time, some Parisians converted the viaduct arches into squats, brasseries, makeshift workshops and studios. For many residents of the 12th arrondissement, this situation of instability and perceived lawlessness raised concerns around public safety and urban decline, eventually eliciting public demand for redevelopment.

In response, the Atelier Parisien d’Urbanisme (APUR), an urban planning agency bringing together 29 institutional partners including the City of Paris and the Ile-de-France prefecture, was tasked with exploring the future of the disused Bastille-Vincennes railway. To move from planning to implementation, the City of Paris relied on the semi-public developer SEMAEST (now SEM Paris Commerces) to carry on the transformation process. SEMAEST became instrumental in incorporating the site into a wider regeneration strategy for Eastern Paris. The operation was part of the Plan-Programme Est de Paris, which aimed to rebalance urban development between the historically affluent Western Paris and neglected Eastern Paris. 

The project was also closely tied to the ZAC (Zone d'Aménagement Concerté) Reuilly, a designated planning area active between 1978 and 2011. A ZAC is a special planning area where a public authority, or an appointed public entity, develops and services land. The land is usually acquired with the aim of later transferring it to public or private users. The ZAC Reuilly, in particular, encompassed former SNCF rail yards and the Gare de Reuilly, enabling coordinated delivery of new housing, commercial activities, and green space. The Jardin de Reuilly, also part of this initiative, became one of the central nodes of the Promenade Plantée. 

As the two projects were being implemented at the same time, SEMAEST planners in the ZAC Reuilly adopted the guiding principles of the Promenade Plantée. The Promenade was not conceived as a grandiose project, but rather as a way to create publicly accessible green spaces, and SEMAEST worked to connect it with other regeneration projects. Thus, when APUR presented its master plan for the Bastille-Vincennes railway in 1985, SEMAEST was ready to integrate the Promenade with that plan. Consequently, the new residential and commercial development in the ZAC Reuilly was organized around the greenway, the restoration of the Gare de Reuilly, and the creation of the Jardin de Reuilly, which became the central feature of the Promenade Plantée.

Developed in three phases between 1988 and 1994, the project combined landscape design with heritage conservation and commercial revitalisation. In Phase I, landscape architects Jacques Vergely and Philippe Mathieux (of APUR) reimagined the elevated portion as a green promenade stretching from the Opéra Bastille to the Jardin de Reuilly. In Phase II, architect Patrick Berger led the restoration of 60 of the viaduct's arches into the Viaduc des Arts, transforming them into regulated, high-end commercial spaces for artisans, designers, and cafés. The remaining 11 arches were left open to enable street-level traffic. Phase III linked the greenway to the redevelopment of the ZAC Reuilly site and extended it eastward through the Picpus and Bel Air districts toward the Bois de Vincennes. 

The Promenade unfolds as a diverse spatial experience. Its first 1.5 km, elevated above the Avenue Daumesnil, offers pedestrians a tranquil perspective above the city. After crossing the Rue de Rambouillet and passing through Bercy, it reaches the Jardin de Reuilly, once a railway maintenance yard, where a suspension footbridge carries visitors over the park. Beyond this point, the promenade descends to street level, continuing through tunnels and embankments before reaching its end near the Bois de Vincennes. 

The Promenade Plantée’s most significant contribution lies in its ability to preserve the material legacy of the industrial era in the form of the viaduct, while reclaiming the rail corridor’s spatial function, originally built for state industrial use and now returned to the public as open-access green infrastructure. This transformation from obsolete infrastructure into a multi-use public space also represents a good example on how to emphasise slowness, contemplation, and reconnection with both heritage and landscape. As the world’s first elevated linear park, it directly inspired later projects like New York’s High Line and remains a model for post-industrial urban regeneration.

Currently, the Promenade Plantée is managed by the City of Paris, while the Viaduc des Arts is operated by SEM Paris Commerces, under a long-term leasing contract, in tandem with the Association des Artisans du Viaduc, representing the vendors’ interests.

The Promenade Plantée stands as a pioneering model of post-industrial urban regeneration, demonstrating how disused infrastructure can be reimagined to serve contemporary social, economic, and environmental needs. Economically, it has revitalized Eastern Paris by transforming the Viaduc des Arts into a thriving commercial corridor that supports artisanal trades and attracts tourism, all while avoiding the more aggressive forms of gentrification often associated with such projects. Socially, the Promenade enhances public life by offering a safe, accessible space that reconnects neighbourhoods, fosters sustainable mobility and conserves Paris’s industrial heritage. It reclaims a once-abandoned railway as a linear public realm, creating a unique elevated urban experience that fosters community interaction and cultural memory.

Environmentally, the Promenade contributes to urban sustainability through its extensive green infrastructure. It enhances biodiversity and mitigates urban heat, offering both ecological and health benefits. By integrating natural systems into the dense urban fabric, the project anticipates climate adaptation strategies and exemplifies the potential of infrastructure-led green redevelopment. Together, these impacts position the Promenade Plantée not just as a local amenity, but as an influential blueprint for rethinking public space in the post-industrial city.

Promenade Plantée integrates extensive open and recreational areas, commercial spaces, and mobility infrastructure, enhancing urban connectivity, commercial structures, and public leisure opportunities. At its core, the project transforms the disused Vincennes railway corridor into a 4.5 km linear park that interlaces recreational, commercial, and mobility functions across the 12th arrondissement. The greenway links a sequence of gardens, squares, and public spaces, including the Jardin de Reuilly and smaller themed gardens, creating nearly 65.000 sqm of open and recreational land. These spaces provide residents and visitors with opportunities for leisure, community gathering, and ecological engagement, while also serving as stepping stones in a wider network of green infrastructure connecting eastern Paris with the Bois de Vincennes.

Commercial use is provided by the Viaduc des Arts, where sixty of the viaduct’s seventy-one arches were restored and adapted to house workshops, boutiques, galleries, and cafés. This redevelopment preserves the artisanal identity of the arrondissement while introducing new forms of cultural consumption and tourism. By transforming informal workshops and squats into regulated, higher-quality retail and creative spaces, the Viaduc des Arts has become both an economic corridor and a cultural attraction.

Mobility infrastructure constitutes another essential land class. The promenade itself doubles as a sustainable transportation corridor, with pedestrian and cycling paths running along its length. In sections where the former railway dipped into trenches or crossed at grade, bridges, tunnels, and ramps were adapted to maintain continuity, ensuring both accessibility and safety. The project, therefore, combines recreational open space with a functional mobility artery that fosters active transportation and connects disparate urban districts in eastern Paris.

Benefits

The Promenade Plantée and its Viaduc des Arts have played a significant role in the economic revitalisation of Eastern Paris. The adaptive and legal reuse of the viaduct’s 60 arches into cafés, bistros and 41 high-end artisanal shops and boutiques established a distinctive commercial corridor that draws both tourists and residents. This transformation has stimulated local economic activity, enhanced the commercial appeal of the 12th arrondissement, and helped position the area as a hub for craft and design.

Since its completion, the project contributed to attracting to the neighbourhood 6,968 sqm of new commercial space and over 18,581 sqm of office space, demonstrating the project's role as a catalyst for enhancing economic activities and attracting new investments.

Another indicator of the Promenade’s success was the construction of new housing along its route. Much of the linear park is now flanked by residential developments, contributing to a balanced and sustainable urban fabric. From 1990 onwards, 88 old buildings containing over 1000 residences were restored along the promenade’s route. The result is a renewed urban quarter where environmental quality and economic opportunity coexist, bringing lasting value to the 12th Arrondissement and serving as a benchmark for sustainable city-making.

The economic impacts of the Promenade Plantée are closely tied to debates over whether the project contributed to gentrification in the 12th arrondissement. On one hand, data suggest that the Promenade catalysed a process of revaluation: vacancy rates fell, property values rose, and the local population shifted away from traditional wage earners toward knowledge professionals and cultural elites. The transformation of the Viaduc des Arts further exemplified this shift, replacing informal artisanal workshops and squats with high-end boutiques and creative industries, thereby reconfiguring the area for tourism and consumption. On the other hand, it can also be argued that these dynamics can be traced back to larger citywide trends rather than representing a distinct gentrification effect. Demographic changes in the 12th, where the population experienced a 1% increase in the 90s decade and the share of intellectual workers rose by 8.4% to 50%, followed broader Parisian patterns, while housing prices remained below the city average and did not experience abnormal surges. In fact, after the intervention, houses in the 12th arrondissement did not experience any sharp increases and, as of 2013, they still cost significantly less than the city average. On average, an apartment in the 12th cost 7.850 euros/sqm compared to a city average of 8.260 euros/sqm. Taken together, these findings suggest that while the Promenade Plantée played a role in reshaping the local economy and socio-spatial profile, its impact is better understood as part of a gradual process of neighbourhood upgrading and revaluation rather than as a sharp case of gentrification.

The Promenade Plantée represents an early and innovative example of infrastructure regeneration in a dense urban setting. The adaptive reuse of obsolete railway infrastructure into a green corridor ensured resource circularity and minimisation of construction waste, as no demolitions took place. Furthermore, the continuous green corridor supports urban biodiversity, improves air quality, and the rich vegetation contributes to carbon sequestration while offering a climate-resilient landscape capable of adapting to changing weather patterns and mitigating urban heat island effects. The project avoids synthetic chemical fertilisers, relying exclusively on organic alternatives, and prioritises the use of native and site-appropriate plant species, consistent with the environmental policies applied across all municipal green spaces in Paris. 

Created by landscape architects Philippe Mathieux and Jacques Vergely, the Promenade’s green areas employ a préverdissement strategy: a dynamic horticultural approach aimed at encouraging the natural evolution of local flora and promoting long-term environmental care. Instead of strictly controlling the urban layout with closed constructions, the designers arrange initial plantings within a framework that links existing conditions to future growth while allowing sufficient space for spontaneous plant development.

As a result, it proposes a varied and layered experience of nature in an urban setting, spanning from rose-lined pathways and manicured terraces to wilder, rewilded spaces. In its final stretch, known as the Promenade Verte, the path drops up to seven metres below street level into a former railway tunnel, where spontaneous vegetation from years of abandonment has been preserved and integrated, evoking the atmosphere of a lush, untamed cave.

Along its route in the 12th arrondissement, the Promenade also connects a series of distinct parks, each with its own character and ecological function. The Jardin Hector-Mallot features terraced landscaping with maple trees and shrubs; the Jardin de Reuilly includes thematic gardens, a grotto, children’s play areas, and ornamental fountains; and the Jardin Charles Péguy, with its water features, oaks, and conifers, acts as a natural prelude to the Bois de Vincennes, the largest public park in the city.

The Promenade Plantée has reshaped public life in Eastern Paris by enhancing public safety, improving mobility, and reclaiming public space. First, the project made the 12th arrondissement safer by repurposing spaces that were being occupied and improperly converted into squats and illegal establishments, which, over time, had become a cause for concern for citizens. Additionally, running above the city streets, the elevated linear park allows pedestrians and cyclists to avoid street-level traffic, offering a safe passage that spans 4.5 kilometres and avoids 21 intersections. This configuration enhances mobility for non-motorised users, promoting soft transportation and healthier urban lifestyles.

Moreover, the project has preserved and repurposed a crucial piece of industrial heritage. By conserving the material structure of the viaduct and the spatial right-of-way of the old rail line, the Promenade maintains the memory of a bygone industrial era while opening that space to new public uses. This aligns closely with the principles of UNESCO’s Historic Urban Landscape approach, which advocates for the integration of heritage conservation with sustainable urban development. Rather than demolishing the viaduct, the project embraced adaptive reuse, transforming a disused transport corridor into a vibrant civic asset. This approach not only safeguarded the tangible elements of the site, its arches, rails, and alignment, but also preserved its intangible cultural legacy.

The Viaduc des Arts, in particular, which now houses artisanal boutiques and workshops within the restored arches, exemplifies this commitment to cultural continuity as it reactivates the 12th arrondissement’s long history of artisanal and craft shops while reframing it for public enjoyment and creative enterprise. The preservation of both tangible and intangible cultural assets demonstrates how heritage can serve as a foundation for inclusive, forward-looking place-making.

The Promenade Plantée has been awarded the EcoJardin certification, a national standard in France that recognises exemplary ecological management of urban green spaces. This certification was developed and issued by Plante & Cité, the French national centre for research and innovation in urban landscaping. It is based on a comprehensive framework that promotes best practices in areas such as soil preservation, optimised water use, site-specific plant selection, biodiversity protection, and reduction and recovery of green waste. 

Finance model

 Funding for the project came primarily from the City of Paris. Municipal accounts indicate that the promenade cost approximately USD 25 million in total. This included around USD 6.5 million for the acquisition of the viaduct from SNCF and a further USD 15 million invested in its refurbishment, including waterproofing the arches’ ceilings to support the Promenade Plantée above.

The operation was integrated into the ZAC Reuilly framework, confirming its status as a publicly financed urban regeneration initiative. Additionally, part of the revenues from the shops in the Viaduc des Arts is used to cover the maintenance of the Promenade. 

The City of Paris financed the project with its own financial resources. Additionally, the Viaduc des Arts was designed to be financially sustainable by linking the elevated park to the commercial activities below. Sixty of the arches of the viaduct were converted into rental spaces for artisans, designers, and cafés, with the revenues reportedly covering the costs of maintaining the promenade. In 2004, the City of Paris signed a bail emphytéotique administratif (BEA) with SEMAEST (now SEM Paris Commerces), a long-term concession agreement granting the company long-term rights to rehabilitate, manage, and lease out the viaduct’s arches while the City retained ownership of the structure.

According to the BEA, SEM Paris Commerces pays the City of Paris a fixed annual fee of €180,000 plus a variable rent indexed to sublease revenues, while assuming responsibility for day-to-day management, promotion, and maintenance of the arches and lower façades. Additionally, part of the revenues from the shops in the Viaduc des Arts is used to cover the maintenance of the Promenade. At the same time, the City of Paris, through its Direction des Espaces Verts et de l’Environnement (DEVE), remains directly responsible for the upper structure, including the promenade, parapets, and waterproofing, and reimburses SEM Paris Commerces for structural works that fall within the City’s mandate.

This rental income provides a self-sustaining source of funds that helps offset the upkeep of the linear park above, thereby reducing dependence on municipal subsidies. The result is a hybrid financial model: while the initial redevelopment was entirely financed through public investment, ongoing operation and maintenance are sustained through commercial revenues embedded directly into the infrastructure, ensuring the long-term viability of the promenade.

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