There are few communities that are not concerned by the issues of housing redistribution, with, on the one hand, families seeking accommodation in well-served and relatively central areas, and on the other, elderly people wishing to remain in their neighbourhood, but in accommodation adapted to their needs.
In 2021, the "zero net artificialization" (ZAN), an objective set within the framework of the climate and resilience law, reinforced a phenomenon that appeared a little over a decade ago: the Bimby. The acronym Build in my back yard [literally: "Build in my garden", editor's note] already highlighted this need to densify areas that were often residential and sprawling, where plots of land could reach 2,000 m2 . Thus, some housing estates have seen their average age climb over the years, even though the houses were not adapted either in terms of their surface area or their facilities to occupants who were losing their autonomy.
Jean-Michel Léger, associate sweden phone number list researcher at Ipraus (Parisian Institute for Research: Architecture, Urban Planning, Society), identifies three forms of housing densification processes: "The first, which is spontaneous, when private owners proceed with the division of plots; the second, supported by local authorities and public and parapublic advisory bodies; and finally, those supported by private design offices, developing the Bimby approach." Sometimes, the last two forms meet, when local authorities seek advice from design offices to support and even encourage Bimby approaches through an adapted PLU (local urban planning plan).
Villes Vivantes, which describes itself as an "urban planning start-up" , acts as a link between individuals and communities. "We offer communities the opportunity to mobilize owners to adapt the housing supply to the needs of the area," explains Thomas Hanss, co-founder of Villes Vivantes. One of the first experiments conducted by this design office took place in Le Creusot-Montceau, in Saône-et-Loire, where the urban community first deployed the system in the municipalities of Le Creusot and Saint-Vallier, between July 2016 and December 2018, before extending it to seven additional municipalities. The principle is to offer individuals a free interview with architecture professionals, in order to help them realize their project. 3D modeling allows you to visualize the result and consider new solutions thanks to the skills of the experts provided. The project may simply consist of carrying out a land division with a view to selling a building plot or building a second dwelling on the plot.