By Daniel Finnan
France is set to have 13 ecocities attracting 50,000 extra inhabitants over the next 25 years in specially designed eco-quarters. The government has told local authorities to submit their plans by March next year.
Eighty per cent of France’s population lives in urban areas which produce 70 per cent of French greenhouse gas emissions.
The plan aims to “show that it’s possible to grow, to welcome new inhabitants and do it in a sustainable way,” government adviser Emmanuelle Gay told RFI (Radio France Internationale).
The schemes will represent the “top level of sustainable urban development”, Gay says.
The “cities of tomorrow” scheme will receive 750 million euros out of the 35-billion-euro “big loan” that President Nicolas Sarkozy launched in an attempt to revive the economy. READ MORE >>
