Biodiversity at the heart of planning for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024

Snapshot Solution
The Olympic Village will have a biodiversity-inclusive design.
SOLIDEO

As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2024, SOLIDEO, the agency created to deliver the venues, is placing the social and ecological legacy of the Games at heart of the design process. Development of the new Olympic Village is planned in La Seine-Saint Denis and will become a leading example of sustainable design, demonstrating how rich biodiversity can thrive in dense urban areas.

 

Paris 2024 marks a new era for the Games – one that is more environmentally friendly and supportive. The sober Games concept is 95% based on existing or temporary equipment to limit pressure on habitats. A specific preservation strategy will assess and manage the Games’ impact over five sustainable pillars. Urban biodiversity plays a central role and includes remarkable and ordinary biodiversity – nature that should be left untouched and nature that should be integrated as much as possible. Paris 2024 will go beyond preservation by identifying regeneration opportunities for the urban sites serving the Games.

Last update: 27 Nov 2020
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Contexto
Défis à relever
Drought
Erratic rainfall
Increasing temperatures
Land and Forest degradation
Loss of Biodiversity
Ecosystem loss
Infrastructure development
Scale of implementation
Local
Ecosystems
Area-wide development
Buildings and facilities
Connective infrastructure, networks and corridors
Green spaces (parks, gardens, urban forests)
Urban wetlands
Tema
Access and benefit sharing
Biodiversity mainstreaming
Habitat fragmentation and degradation
Adaptation
Mitigation
Connectivity / transboundary conservation
Ecosystem services
Cities and infrastructure
Urban planning
Ubicación
Paris, France
West and South Europe
Impacts

SOLIDEO’s transformative development plans for the new Olympic Village in district La Seine-Saint Denis include:

  • Adding 7 hectares of new green spaces, which will offer space for biodiversity while also promoting physical activities and sports for citizens.

  • Increasing ecological connectivity by enhancing the river corridor, by creating biodiversity corridors along railways & bike paths, and by including an ecological loop through the Village.

  • Installing rooftop gardens with different habitat types that act as stepping stones for smaller, mobile creatures like birds and pollinators.

  • Establishing five distinct native habitat types by using native vegetation – particularly climate change resilient species from native shrubland and mesophilic meadows – will bring diversity within the habitats as well as throughout the district.

  • Incorporating rain gardens with a mix of wetland species and special resources such as dead wood, rock piles and bug houses will capture run-off and provide urban cool spaces where wildlife can complete their life cycles.

  • Addressing potential conflicts between spaces for people and for nature such as the use of wild-life friendly lightning that enhances night-time safety while minimising disturbance for nocturnal animals or the placing of a noise barrier between the expressway and the Village.

     

Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 9 – Industry, innovation and infrastructure
SDG 11 – Sustainable cities and communities
SDG 13 – Climate action
SDG 15 – Life on land
SDG 17 – Partnerships for the goals
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Other contributors
Eric Ndayishimiye
San Francisco Estuary Institute
Robin Grossinger
San Francisco Estuary Institute
Megan Wheeler
San Francisco Estuary Institute
Erica Spotswood
San Francisco Estuary Institute