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Questions from the "Housing groups" to the "Bread groups"

"HOUSING" - Question from UTA - Lyon:
Renovation of an ancient area of your city.

1.- Introduction : (short description of the project of UTA - Lyon).

In the frame of the SoLiLL Project, the subject of research selected by the Group of senior students of UTA - Lyon deals with the recent renovation of an ancient area of the city.
It is a narrow and steep sloping street named : La Montée de la Grande Côte.

A bit of history :
The city of Lugdunum (ancient name of Lyon) was founded by the roman emperor Claudius. La Montée de la Grande Côte was the point of departure of the "road to the North", a major transfer place for goods and travellers between southern and northern ancient Europe. With the collapse of the Roman Empire, Lugdunum lost its prosperity for many centuries, nevertheless La Montée de la Grande Côte continued to be an active "living space". In the 18th and 19th Centuries, a new period of prosperity boosted the "industrial life" (weaving activities) of this part of the city for more than one hundred years.

But the situation deteriorated again, continuously, in the 20th Century. In 1950, la Montée de la Grande Côte was an insalubrious and bad frequented area, occupied by low income inhabitants. The population decreased from 63 000 in 1931, to 23 000 nowadays.

The renovation of la Montée de la Grande Côte :
The demolition of several unhealthy buildings in the 70's triggered criticism, and a large number of associations of neighbours became very active. As a consequence of intensive lobbying and political pressure, the program of demolition was stopped and a Program of Renovation in several phases was imagined. It is the implementation of this Program, and its practical consequences, that the Group of students of UTA-Lyon have investigated.
The students are currently working out the pages of the report describing the history of the street and the "ways and means" of its renovation.

The information delivered by the other partner Groups involved in the SoLiLL Project, for similar renovation or reconstruction programs in their respective places, will be integrated in the publication of UTA-Lyon.

Organisation and methods of work :
The number of students involved in direct the tasks is supposed to be small (4 to 6 ?).
The methods of work are those in use in many groups of research :
· group meetings to decide and plan actions, exchange information, reach consensus, communicate with the partners via Internet ("multilingual forum"), etc.
· personal investigation and home work;
The interest and motivation of the students are expected to be : self managed personal research , cultural investigation, acquisition of information and skills ("practical research", "Internet communication", etc.).

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