Bourges is a French commune, prefecture of the department of Cher. With 64,551 inhabitants in 2017, it is the most populous municipality in the department. At the center of an urban area of 139,052 inhabitants (the 62nd in France), Bourges is the third most populous municipality in the Center-Val de Loire region, after Tours and Orléans, and ahead of Blois, Châteauroux and Chartres. It is also the historic capital of Berry, a province of the Ancien Régime corresponding approximately to the current departments of Indre and Cher.
The Saint-Étienne de
Bourges cathedral is a Catholic cathedral built between the end of
the 12th and the end of the 13th century. Dedicated to Saint
Stephen, the first martyr, it is the seat of the Archdiocese of
Bourges (departments of Cher and Indre).
Architecturally, the
building is remarkable both for its harmonious proportions, linked
to the unity of its design, and for the quality of its tympanums,
sculptures and stained glass windows. It differs in particular from
the other great cathedrals of the time by a completely new search
for a unified interior space.
The Saint-Étienne cathedral in
Bourges was consecrated on May 13, 1324. Like all cathedrals built
before the separation of churches and state, it now belongs to the
French state. It is the subject of a classification as a historical
monument by the list of 1862 and it was inscribed in 1992 on the
UNESCO World Heritage List. It is located in the historic center of
Bourges, a protected area since 1965.
The Jacques-Coeur Palace is a private mansion located in
Bourges, considered by the elegance of its architecture, the
richness and the variety of its decoration, as one of the most
sumptuous civil buildings of the fifteenth century and a masterpiece
of civil architecture in flamboyant Gothic style. This 15th-century
building prefigures the mansions that will flourish during the
Renaissance and is, along with the Château de Montsoreau (1453) and
the Château de Châteaudun (1452), one of the very first examples of
recreational architecture in France.
It was born out of the
desire of the rich merchant Jacques Coeur to build a "big" house "in
his native town, but Charles VII's money-maker never lived there.
This palace is the subject of a classification as historical
monuments by the list of 1840. Property of the State since 1923, it
is managed, animated and open to visitors by the center of national
monuments.
The Archiepiscopal Palace is one of the main buildings in the center of the city of Bourges, opposite the cathedral and which served as the Town Hall from 1910 to 1995. It currently contains the museum of the “Meilleur Ouvriers de France” and brings together a number of masterpieces produced at the end of their tour of France.
The Bourges marshes, or marshes of Yèvre and
Voiselle, constitute in the major bed of the Yèvre river and to the
east of Bourges city center, an enclave of 135 ha of former marshes
developed by humans from the 7th century, and today dedicated to
forms of urban agriculture (private vegetable or ornamental gardens)
and setting for certain leisure activities (fishing, jogging,
walking, tourism, etc.)
They are divided into nearly 1,500
plots, distributed among almost as many owners: their areas vary
from 13 m2 to 1.5 ha. The marshes have been protected by a
classification since 2003 under the regime of “natural monuments and
sites” governed by the environment code1. Two associations, bringing
together some of the users of the marshes, contribute to their
safeguard and protection, their enhancement, their maintenance and
their animation: the Association des maraîchers de Bourges (AMB),
and the Association Patrimoine des Marais (also called Association
of users of the Yèvre and Voiselle marshes in Bourges, AUMYVB).
The name of the locality is attested in the forms Avaricum (Caesar,
in book VII and book VIII (actually written by Hirtius) of his
Commentaries on the Gallic War, then in book III of his Commentaries on
the civil war). It is also found in the Epitome of Florus, then in the
Itinerary of Antoninus, as well as on the Table of Peutinger. The
geographer Ptolemy transcribes it on the other hand in Greek; In the
second half of the fourth century, the historian Ammianus Marcellinus
uses the Biturigae script. A few decades later, Orose, in his Stories
against the Pagans, wrote Biturigo Civitas, and during the same years,
an administrative text, the Notice of the Gauls, uses the form Civitas
Biturigum. In 471, the bishop of Clermont, Sidoine Apollinaire, mentions
in his correspondence Biturigas, as well as the plebs Biturigis, the
population of Bourges. About a century later, Gregory of Tours, in his
History of the Franks, resorts to Bitorex, Biturigas, and Biturigum.
Around the 650s, Jonas de Bobbio, in his Life of Saint Columbanus,
mentions the Betoricensis urbs. A little later, we read on Merovingian
coins the following forms: Betorex, Betoregas, Betorigas and Beoregas,
the last testifying to the erasure of the inner t in pronunciation.
Closer to us, in the thirteenth century, a so-called Liève tax list
contains the Borges form several times, testifying to a progression that
leads, in a document dated 1410 and evoked by A. Buhot de Kersers in his
History and monumental statistics of the Department of Cher, to the form
that we currently know, as attested at the beginning of the fifteenth
century: Bourges.
The locality was probably called in Gaulish
*Avaricon, a toponym derived in -icon from the name of the river that
borders it, the Avara, which nowadays has become the Yèvre. It could
therefore mean "the city on the banks of the Avara".
During late
antiquity, in the fourth century, many Gallo-Roman capitals saw their
name disappear from use, replaced by that of the city they administered.
This process saw Avaricum receive a designation based on apud Bituriges,
"among the Bituriges".
The phonetic evolution that Bituriges
leads to the name of Bourges is explained phonetically by the fact that
the Latin words had an stressed syllable. In the case of Bituriges, the
stressed syllable is the one that precedes the penultimate and that we
call the antepenultimate, in other words the syllable /tu/, hence in
Gallo-Roman BITURIGE > Beorege (regular evolution [i] > [e], improvement
of intervocalic [t]) > Bourges.
The site has been occupied since the Neolithic period. A vault, linked to a dwelling, in which 46 different individuals have been identified has thus been found in the north of the town between Saint-Doulchard and Fussy. These bones date back to a period between - 6,000 years and - 2,200 years BC.
Before the Roman period, it was the region of the Gallic people of
the Cubic Bituriges, which meant "the kings of the world".
In
antiquity, the city is attested in the form Avaricum "the place on the
Yevre" (the Celtic name being *Avariko- which is found in the name of
the river Yevre, Avar).
In the fifth century BC, the Gallic
people of the Cubic Bituriges developed a vast proto-urban agglomeration
spread over several tens of hectares and in close contact with the
Arverns (Luern, Vercingetorix) and the Mediterranean (Marseille,
Golasecca, Padan Etruria, etc.). The publication of the excavations
carried out in the Saint-Martin-des-Champs district makes it possible to
better understand the importance of artisanal activities in the cycle of
socio-economic development observable at this time of the extreme end of
the 1st Iron Age. Rich tombs, such as the great tumulus of Lazenay, also
demonstrate the power of the contemporary two-headed aristocracy. Given
these recent archaeological discoveries, Livy's text according to which
the Cubi Bituriges and their king Ambigatos would have supervised the
first Celtic migrations in Northern Italy takes on a new relief.
At the end of the fifth century BC, the site seems largely abandoned and
is densely reoccupied only from the second century BC. The revolt of the
Bituriges against the Romans and their massacre by the Romans in 53 BC
is one of the signals of the mass rising of the Gallic peoples and
Vercingetorix against Caesar. During the Gallic War, Caesar laid siege
to it, which lasted for many months. Everywhere else in Gaul,
Vercingetorix had implemented a scorched earth policy: no city, no farm
was to be used to supply the Roman legions.
However, the
inhabitants of Avaricum begged Vercingetorix to spare their city,
highlighting the safety of their city protected by natural defenses
(because it is located on a hill surrounded by a river and marshes) and
by a powerful wall to the south. From this wall, he received the
nomination of Red City, in the same way as Le Mans. Caesar succeeds in
taking the city by starving his fighters and repelling the relief army
of Vercingetorix. But Caesar's revenge was terrible. Of the 40,000 men,
women and children locked up in its walls, only 800 escaped.
Once the city has been conquered, it is rebuilt in the Roman style
with a Hippodamian plan and numerous monumental complexes: monumental
gate, aqueducts, thermal baths and amphitheater. Many villas have been
built and the town has reached a size greater than that of the Middle
Ages.
The urbanization of the Berrichonne capital, at the
beginning of the Gallo-Roman era, is also signaled by the construction
of a forum. The structures constituting the ancient public square have
been highlighted in the very heart of the foundations constituting the
basement of the city center. This monumental complex was discovered by
chance in 1857, during an architectural operation aimed at sealing the
cellars of the ducal palace. However, after a letter-announcement
published in the departmental newspaper in 1860, the clearance and
exhumation of the Gallo-Roman remains were not carried out until 1861,
under the leadership of Jules Dumoutet, one of the main members of the
Commission of Antiquaries of the Center. It was only a century later, in
1961, that the archaeological excavations were carried out at the site
of the forum of Avaricum, under the direction of Jean Favière, curator
of the Berry Museum. These archaeological investigations highlight the
walls and floor slabs of the Gallo-Roman public square that have
remained inaccessible until then. An "oushebti" was discovered in
Bourges, attesting to the cultural and intellectual movements of the
different cultures of the Roman Empire.
Subsequently, during the barbarian invasions, the city withdraws into
itself and a Gallo-Roman enclosure is built by filling the stones of the
official buildings for the occasion; the enclosed surface (40 ha),
although set back compared to the previous period, is one of the largest
in Gauls. It suffers from a first great fire of its wooden buildings in
588.
Bourges also became the seat of an archbishopric, to which
belong the dioceses of Albi, Cahors, Clermont-Ferrand, Mende,
Puy-en-Velay, Rodez, Saint-Flour and Tulle. The diocese is one of the
very first to be founded by Saint Ursin during the first evangelization
campaigns of Gaul around the fourth century. As a result, the diocese
obtains privileges and the archbishops of Bourges become primates of
Aquitaine (cf. Roman provinces) and Patriarch of the Roman Church. Since
the Middle Ages, these prerogatives have been challenged in particular
by the archbishops of Bordeaux, and currently they only have an honorary
value.
In 588, Bourges experienced the first of its great medieval fires.
The city, which belonged to the Kingdom of Aquitaine, was taken by
Charles Martel in 731, then immediately taken over by Eudes of
Aquitaine. Pepin the Short stormed it in 762, destroyed its ramparts and
integrated it into the royal domain under the care of his counts. He
built a palace there in 767.
On the other hand, the Carolingian
period is more prosperous judging by the traces it left, although little
known. If it begins with a new destructive fire in 760, many buildings
are built, a sign of a social, political and religious reorganization.
From this period dates the construction of the Hôtel-Dieu and the first
cathedral of Bourges, on the site of the current one, by Raoul de
Turenne. A Merovingian crypt remains from this building under the choir
of the current building. We are also witnessing the construction of a
palace (covered by the current prefecture). Many abbeys were founded
with the support of the royal power, such as that of Saint-Ambroix. A
first wave of churches was built, including St. Paul's Church.
At
the beginning of the twelfth century, Bourges became the capital of a
viscountcy, until the last viscount of Bourges, Eudes d'arpin in 1101
sold his fiefdoms for 60,000 sous-or to the king of France to finance
his crusade. Bourges therefore enters the royal domain, proper property
of the Crown. In 1038, Archbishop Aimoin established a diocesan
association regrouping all men over the age of fifteen, who took an oath
to defend the Peace of God. Although not very effective, it was relayed
in the twelfth century by a diocesan commune (from before 1108) which,
for its part, had a certain effectiveness: its militia forced Renaud de
Graçay to abandon the castle of Saint-Palais in 1149.
Towards the
end of this century, the monumental adornment of the city was partly
renewed, on the one hand with the construction of the cathedral, these
works having begun in 1195 at the instigation of the archbishop Henri de
Sully75, and on the other hand with the construction of a new enclosure,
medieval fortification whose architecture probably proves to be a
"prototype" for the other walls erected during the reign of Philippe
Auguste. This new enclosure, flanked by an imposing circular tower whose
construction began during the reign of Louis VII and probably ended in
1189, brings the area of the city to 15 ha, surrounded by the suburbs of
Saint-Ambroix, Saint-Fulgent and Saint-Ursin. Indeed, the city is an
important religious center, even if it does not have a pilgrimage
center. The influence of local families who have become very close to
the king, such as the La Châtre and the Sully to name a few, contributes
to the desire to achieve an exceptional building thanks to the economic
and political power of the archbishops of Bourges. On a stormy night,
the blasted cathedral is on fire. It had just been rebuilt and hadn't
even been completed yet. The decision-makers hesitated, but perhaps out
of rivalry with the Archbishop of Bourges, Henri de Sully, brother of
the builder of Notre-Dame de Paris, decided in 1192 to build a new
cathedral on a unique and original plan.
This original cathedral
constitutes a visible manifesto of the power of the Berruyère church,
but also of the Capetian monarchy (the English are very close). From
1192 until the middle of the fifteenth century, that is to say for more
than 250 years, this construction site monopolizes the entire city.
In 1251, the crusade of the Shepherds passes to Bourges.
Great fires, the one of June 23, 1252 which enters the memory of the
city and in 1353 favor the reconstruction and modification82 of the
architecture of the city in contact with the cathedral which is spared.
The fire of June 1252 arrives after several arid years and is activated
by the wind. It causes great destruction in the Saint-Médard,
Saint-Pierre-le-Marché, Saint-Pierre-le-Guillard and Saint-Ambroix
neighborhoods. The same evening, Archbishop Philippe Berruyer writes the
news to the regent, Blanche of Castile, who dispatches a commission of
inquiry. This commission interviews 249 people and delivers a report in
the form of a 120 m long scroll of parchment, exceptional sources on the
fire, however incomplete: while they describe destruction on the
north-western quarter of the city, Jean-Pierre Leguay estimates that the
affected area is much more important88.
There are many people who
find themselves homeless: more than two thirds of the inhabitants of
destroyed houses are unable to rebuild or find alternative housing. The
city is building makeshift huts in wood frame and cob walls to
accommodate them urgently. A conspiracy theory emerges on occasion, and
we accuse the Shepherds, passed the year before, of being the cause of
the fire.
The city is set on fire again in 1259, 1338, 1353,
1407, 1463, 1467, on July 27, 1487, in 1508 and in 1538. The city is,
however, storing 700 buckets out of an abundance of caution throughout
the city, to promote early fire fighting, but, among other factors, fire
starts are favored by the absence of a protected hearth in the workshops
of many craftsmen. However, it happens that the fight against the fire
is victorious, as on June 29, 1491. That day, the fire started in the
stables of the Barangier inn, in the Faubourg Saint-Sulpice. Teams of
carpenters are sent to the roofs to cut the rafters and bring down the
frame with large hooks provided for this purpose, and thus limit the
spread of the fire.
At the end of August 1356, the suburb of
Auron was looted and burned by the English troops of the Black Prince
but they were driven out by the Berruyers.
On the site of this
fight was raised a cross, the "Moult Joie Cross" (Strong Joy Cross),
where it is inscribed: "Cross erected in memory of the victory won over
the English by the inhabitants of Bourges in 1356". This cross was
destroyed and rebuilt several times.
In the fourteenth century the city becomes the capital of the Duchy
of Berry, which is given as a prerogative to Jean de Berry, third son of
the King of France John the Good, and brother of King Charles V.
This great lord, son, brother, and uncle of a king, peer of France,
develops a sumptuous court in his capital. It attracts many of the most
brilliant artists of its time to the city. These major projects have a
profound impact on the city. His greatest work is the construction of a
ducal palace (grand palace) built on the remains of the Gallo-Roman
wall, and in continuity with the remains of an older palace called the
petit palais (former palace of the viscounts of Bourges whose primitive
construction dates back to Pepin the Short). This palace is connected by
a gallery (Deer gallery) to the Sainte-Chapelle (or palatine chapel). Of
these buildings, only two of the ceremonial halls of the grand palais
(current general council) remain, the unrecognizable petit palais under
a facade replaced in the nineteenth century (current prefecture). The
Sainte-Chapelle was completely destroyed; some of its canopies were
nevertheless placed in the stained-glass windows of the lower church of
the cathedral. Other elements show the importance that this prince
patron played for Bourges, including the central stained glass window of
the western facade of the cathedral (grand housteau), the famous
manuscript of the Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry, the astronomical
clock originally located on the rood screen of the cathedral (the first
in France).
During the civil war between the Armagnacs and the
Burgundians, the city was besieged by King Charles VI.
The
Dauphin, the future Charles VII of France, having found refuge in
Bourges, uses the administration set up by his great-uncle, the Duke of
Berry, to be able to regain control of his kingdom (mint, court of
justice, episcopal see).
His son, the future Louis XI, was also
born in the palace of the archbishops of Bourges in 1423. Charles VII
promulgated the Pragmatic Sanction there in 1438. The opponents of
Charles VII, Burgundians and English, then designate, by derision, this
part of France under the control of Charles VII, the Kingdom of Bourges.
Jacques Coeur, son of a merchant draper, is one of the most
illustrious inhabitants of this time. First working with his father as a
supplier to the ducal court, he experienced a meteoric rise. He marries
the daughter of the provost of Bourges, Macée de Léodepart, then
participates in the manufacture of coins (which causes him some
setbacks), then he becomes a big money maker that is to say supplier to
the royal court, he thus develops an international commercial network
thanks to the establishment of a network of counters and a commercial
fleet.
But his fortune becomes too great; it awakens the
jealousies, including that of the king, and leads him to his loss.
Translated and condemned by the royal justice, he becomes a hunted man.
A ruined man, he finds refuge with Pope Nicholas V. All his possessions
are confiscated and sold for the benefit of the king, and he dies in
exile in 1456. The most striking trace that he left in the city is the
construction of a mansion that still exists today, the Palais
Jacques-Cœur.
In 1463, King Louis XI ordered the creation of the
University of Bourges which, after difficult beginnings, attracted
renowned teachers and many students in the sixteenth century.
In
1467, a fire started in a dyer's workshop, near the Saint-Bonnet church,
and, driven by a powerful wind86, destroyed the Bourbonnoux district.
The four "laborers" administer the city, then are replaced in June
1474 by a mayor and twelve aldermen. Bourges was one of the 14 cities of
the kingdom whose office of alderman conferred nobility. Several
Berrichonne families have thus found their letters of nobility in this
bell nobility, such as, for example, the Chabenat Family.
On
August 25, 1487, the Great Fire of Bourges, also called the Great Fire
of the Madeleine, destroyed a third of the city and marked the beginning
of the decline of the capital of Berry. Very well known thanks to
abundant archives, it starts from the house of a carpenter, rue
Saint-Sulpice. The markets being destroyed, the annual fairs are moved
to Troyes and Lyon. After the fire, the lack of housing leads to a spike
in prices, some houses could see their price multiply by five. The
clearing works and the reconstruction take time: so in November, when
the aldermen meet at the courthouse, the city is still in ruins and
cluttered with debris from the burned houses. If most of the inhabitants
have difficulty relocating or rebuilding, the Augustinian monks, for
their part, can appeal to the solidarity of the neighboring bishopric:
the diocese of Autun thus appeals to the generosity of its faithful to
finance the reconstruction of their monastery. As for the aldermen, they
do not have the responsible and supportive behavior of those of 1252:
the king grants a huge aid of 23,000 pounds, which is entirely devoted
to the construction of a sumptuous palace intended to house the town
hall. Their action is limited to regulations governing the construction
of annexes and lean-tos on public space. Covers made of flammable
materials are banned, in favor of tile and slate, but the alderman does
not care to enforce these rules in subsequent years. If we find some
beautiful examples of mansions built in stone, in pre-Renaissance style,
such as the house of Queen Joan, most of the private houses built just
after the fire and still preserved are very conservative in their
construction, both in the materials used (wooden frame) and in their
interior layout. The main architectural innovation being the stone
cabinet allowing, in case of fire, to shelter valuables. The
municipality is obliged to carry out major repair works on damaged or
destroyed buildings: Saint-Privé gate, drawbridge, enclosure towers,
artillery boulevard at the time built of wood, but also the town hall,
prisons, public markets must be rebuilt, as well as eleven churches, the
Hôtel-Dieu of Saint-Julien. The aldermen nevertheless take advantage of
the destruction to widen the Underground square.
Another fire
starting near the cathedral in 1559, known as the "grandes écoles",
destroyed part of the city.
From the beginning of the sixteenth century, the city of Bourges shone with its University. It welcomes the greatest humanists of the time and in particular great professors of law such as Alciat, Le Douaren or Cujas. It was under Alciat that the future reformer John Calvin studied law (for 18 months) and it was in Bourges, then one of the places where the wind of the Reformation was blowing the strongest, that he fell under the influence of his German Greek language teacher Melchior Wolmar who converted him to the Lutheran faith.
During the first Religious War, Montgomery took the city in May 1562.
In August of the same year it was again besieged by the Royal Catholic
army.
On December 21, 1569, Protestant troops from the city of
Sancerre failed, in the attack on the Big Tower, against the Catholics
led by the governor of Berry: Claude de La Chatre. The news of the
massacre of Saint-Barthélemy reached Bourges on August 26, 1572, and the
massacre of the Protestants lasted there until September 11. In 1585,
its governor La Châtre joined the League as soon as it was launched.
In the seventeenth century, the city experiences a new surge linked
to two major events, the Counter-Reformation first, of which the Jesuits
will be the main directors and which will materialize in Bourges by the
construction of the Sainte-Marie College. The second event is the
presence of the future Prince of Condé, then his role as governor of
Berry. New ideas and political influence are transforming the city. The
still medieval city opens up, the walls are destroyed, many public
buildings are built (general hospital, carmel) or redeveloped
(Hôtel-Dieu, Hôtel des aldermen). Two men play a fundamental role: an
architect, The Judge, who carries out most of these projects and
Archbishop Michel Phélypeaux de La Vrillière, a great courtier, whose
family is one of the richest in France, who builds an archiepiscopal
palace, French gardens signed Ours and a major seminary. Responding to
economic considerations, Louis XIV, at the instigation of Colbert,
signed an Edict in 1665, resulting in the creation of a lace factory in
May 1666 in several cities including Bourges, but this factory did not
last more than 10 years.
In anticipation of the General States of
1789, Me de Villebanois, parish priest of St Jean-le-Vieil, was elected
deputy of the clergy.
The military vocation of Bourges begins when a regiment of dragoons
is quartered there during the reign of Louis XIV. Bourges and its
surroundings now have many defense-related activities, including the
hypersonic Subdray wind tunnel, MBDA establishments (formerly
Aerospace), the Bourges technical experimental establishment (fire
tests). The latter establishment is the successor of the artillery
school, established in Bourges in 1839 following intensive pressure from
local elected officials.
In 1944, the city was the victim of
numerous destructions due to the Anglo-American bombings. On June 4, a
raid causes seventeen deaths and a dozen serious injuries. On the 27th,
the aircraft construction facilities were destroyed.
Capital of the former province of Berry, a few tens of kilometers
from the geometric center of metropolitan France, and 240 km south of
Paris, the city of Bourges is located at the confluence of several
rivers (Yèvre and Voiselle, one of its branches, Auron, Moulon, Langis).
This strong presence of water flowing into a valley (that of the Yèvre)
with a very slight slope explains the important marshy surface at the
foot of the medieval town (current town center, on a rocky promontory in
extension of the southern plateau). These vast wetlands that once
surrounded the city to the east and west and for a long time dedicated
to grazing and market gardening have been developed as urban development
progresses: channeling of waterways, embankments, urbanization,
agricultural exploitation. The marshes of the Yèvre and the Voiselle
divided into multiple plots and dedicated today to pleasure vegetable
farming and leisure activities have undergone little urbanization within
this specific geographical set.
In the 1970s, an artificial lake,
the Lake of Auron, was created to the south of the city by the
establishment of a dam on the Auron, which is now the center of an urban
development expansion of the City towards the South.
The city of
Bourges is however disadvantaged by its geographical location, which
does not offer any main means of communication, either by rail or by
road. Nevertheless, it has a great historical heritage such as the
Avaricum, the Saint-Étienne cathedral classified as a UNESCO World
Heritage site, the Jacques-Cœur palace or the House of Culture.
Ancient fortified city, Bourges has preserved some vestiges of these
defenses, remains of Gallo-Roman ramparts near the town hall, and
materialization on the ground of the location of a tower.
In
2023, after a long process seeing Bourges take on Montpellier,
Clermont-Ferrand and Rouen, the city is designated European Capital of
Culture 2028 for France.
In 2010, the climate of the municipality is of the degraded oceanic
climate type of the Central and northern plains, according to a CNRS
study based on a series of data covering the period 1971-2000. In 2020,
Météo-France publishes a typology of the climates of metropolitan France
in which the municipality is exposed to an altered oceanic climate and
is in the climatic region Center and northern foothills of the Massif
Central, characterized by dry air in summer and good sunshine.
For the period 1971-2000, the average annual temperature is 11.3 ° C,
with an annual thermal amplitude of 15.8 ° C. The average annual
cumulative rainfall is 755 mm, with 11.4 days of precipitation in
January and 7.6 days in July. For the period 1991-2020, the annual
average temperature observed on the meteorological station installed in
the municipality is 12.1 ° C and the average annual cumulative rainfall
is 742.7 mm. For the future, the climate parameters of the municipality
estimated for 2050 according to different greenhouse gas emission
scenarios can be consulted on a dedicated website published by
Météo-France in November 2022.
Bourges is an urban commune. It is indeed part of the dense
municipalities or of intermediate density, within the meaning of the
communal grid of density of the Insee. It belongs to the urban unit of
Bourges, an intra-departmental agglomeration grouping 6 municipalities
and 84,691 inhabitants in 2021, of which it is the city-center.
In addition, the town is part of the area of attraction of Bourges, of
which it is the town-center. This area, which includes 112
municipalities, is categorized into areas of 50,000 to less than 200,000
inhabitants.
The land use of the municipality, as it appears from the European database of biophysical land use Corine Land Cover (CLC), is marked by the importance of artificial territories (50.7% in 2018), an increase compared to 1990 (44.3%). The detailed distribution in 2018 is as follows: urbanized areas (30.8%), arable land (29.6%), industrial or commercial areas and communication networks (16.7%), heterogeneous agricultural areas (6.3%), meadows (5.7%), environments with shrubby and/or herbaceous vegetation (4.4%), artificial green spaces, non-agricultural (3.2%), forests (2.5%), continental waters (0.7%). The evolution of the land use of the municipality and its infrastructures can be observed on the various cartographic representations of the territory: the Cassini map (eighteenth century), the staff map (1820-1866) and the maps or aerial photos of the IGN for the current period (1950 to today).
The city has many districts which are themselves divided into three
sectors: The city center divided into two zones, the central crown
encircling it and which is divided into five zones and the districts on
the outskirts of the city to the number of thirteen which represent
specific sectors such as industry. Some districts have an annex town
hall but most are directly connected to that of Bourges.
The city
center, divided into two zones and delimited by the boulevards making it
possible to bypass it, represents the hypercenter and brings together
the main shopping street (middle street), the prefecture of Bourges, the
bus interchange hub (Place de la Nation), the Saint-Étienne cathedral
and the SNCF train station. It also has many landscaped parks open to
the public such as the Archbishop's garden or that of the Pre-Fichaux.
The central crowns, four in number, bring together all the areas
that surround the City Center and that energize the city. They bring
together the majority of colleges, high schools and higher education.
The marshes of Bourges are also included in this area. The crowns are
fully managed by the city of Bourges, and considered as an extension of
the City Center.
The districts inside Bourges and peripheral to
the city, numbering thirteen and for the most part having neighborhood
councils, are the main sectors where industry and shops are located. In
the Gionne district is located the military school of Bourges, at the
level of the pyrotechnics sector. The Pignoux district welcomes the
brand new Lahitolle Technopole bringing together the INSA of Bourges as
well as innovative companies.
The Northern districts, including
the Chancellery and the Gibbons, are part of a requalification and
renovation due to their classification as a priority district of the
city's policy, called Bourges-Nord with nearly 8,400 inhabitants.
The Mazières-Barbès district is a historic district of the city of
Bourges, an element of the Berruyer heritage. The district was
transformed in the nineteenth century with industry and it became
urbanized. There are two strong elements that bring wealth to the
nineteenth century in this city: the Mazières foundry and the
watermills.
Before the nineteenth century, this district was far
from the city center. This area is only rural and develops an economy
rather oriented towards agriculture and livestock. The population comes
from the rural world, travels on the back of animals or takes the river
route of the Berry Canal. An element that has disappeared nowadays
reflected the economy of the time: the Beugnon mill (flour
manufacturing).
During the economic boom in France and Europe,
the district will expand in area and get closer to the city. In addition
to the mill, a fundamental construction will develop urbanization,
transform the neighborhood into a working-class city, strengthen and
increase the economy of the city, the Expensive: the Mazières foundry.
This foundry was created by Melchior de Vogüé, a French industrialist.
The street of Mazières appears. Before that time, the location was
just a path.
Mazières-Barbès district in the XXI century
In
2016, the neighborhood became residential, we can talk about dormitory
city. The main place has become the school which brings together all the
children living in the neighborhood (girls and boys from three to eleven
years old). The district has expanded further towards the city center:
we are now talking about the Mazières-Barbès district. It extends from
the city in the north and to the town of Trouy in the south. It has also
developed thanks to the road network that makes the neighborhood an area
where there is heavy traffic.
The population is very
heterogeneous from a social and economic point of view. The neighborhood
has transformed over time and thanks to technical and scientific
progress: we observe the appearance of larger and more comfortable
houses, but also the existence of small buildings. It remains that some
houses of the time still remain, even if they have undergone
transformations. This makes all the charm of the neighborhood and makes
this neighborhood an element of the Berruyer heritage to visit.
The Berry Canal has been filled in and has become a greenway called the
"green hole". It thus completes the "green ring road", encircling the
city of Bourges.
We therefore currently observe :
a strong
urbanization ;
an increased but socially and economically
heterogeneous population: they live there but work elsewhere. We're
talking about the dormitory city ;
a must-see place; what can allow
residents to meet: the primary and kindergarten schools located at 21
Avenue de Saint-Amand.
This district was created in the south of Bourges in the 1970s. Its
name comes from the river that flows there: the Auron. Because of
demographic estimates that predicted an increase in the population in
the 1970s, Mayor Raymond Boisdé built a neighborhood on the side of an
artificial lake and designed a green zone on the west shore.
At
the heart of the project: the artificial lake of Auron
The Lake of
Auron, or body of water of the Val d'auron, was put into water in 1977.
It extends over 82 ha, 2,200 m long and 400 m wide but only 1.7 to 5 m
deep in rare places. On May 11, 1974, the city council approved the
decision to create a concerted development zone (ZAC) and a body of
water. The entire project covers an area of 540 ha. In the master plans
for the construction of the lake, it is a question of developing the
western shore of the lake into a green space with various sports or
leisure equipment. It is less than 2 km from the city center.
This project is the work of Mayor Raymond Boisdé then his successor
Jacques Rimbault and the city architect at the time Jean-Paul Chazelle,
the total cost of the project is around 35 million francs. At the time
of its inauguration, on February 26, 1977, it was only planned to hold
rowing competitions there, to set up a beach, on the Plaimpied side,
allowing swimming. Serge Lepeltier, mayor from 2005 to 2014, wanted to
make it one of the symbols of nature in the city, developing the
practice of various activities around and on the lake throughout the
year: fishing, especially that of carp, sailing and canoeing. The tour
of the lake is also arranged to allow you to practice all kinds of
sports or family activities, such as running, walking, cycling. There is
a sailing base, a rowing center offering international level
competitions, a horse riding center, tennis courts and a golf course.
Local associations offer the public to discover the many species of
migratory birds that meet on the island in the middle of the lake. The
body of water is subject to several regulatory protections for hunting
and fishing. The lake has a great ecological interest. More than 175
species have been observed from the shores by ornithologists. In order
to protect the calm, the fauna and the flora of the borders of the lake,
the road network has been designed so that cars cannot go to the shores
of the lake.
But after forty years of use, the lake suffers from
significant siltation which would require expensive work.
Spread over 180 hectares, to accommodate between 6,000 and 7,000 people, the district has a school, housing, shops, children's games all around the lake, a retirement home, sports equipment and a library. In 2007, its population reached 7,000 inhabitants spread over 2,500 housing units. The physiognomy of the district is marked by a habitat, located on the eastern flank of the lake, composed of small collectives and individual dwellings distributed in subdivisions and adopting a curved road, ending in dead ends on a roundabout very fashionable in the 1970s-1980s.
The marshes of the Val d'auron are part of one of the sensitive natural areas, several signs have been installed to remind and sensitize walkers to the fact that the Val d'auron is a protected place that is of ecological interest. The town hall has asked the Nature18 association, manager of the site, to redo a new management plan in relation to the protection of the fauna and flora of the Val d'auron lake.
The airport district is located in the south-west of the city of
Bourges. It was created on the outskirts of the terminal building. Many
houses have been built to accommodate the airmen and the staff. The
district has developed a lot throughout the twentieth century.
Beginning of the aeronautical industry in Bourges
In July 1934, the
Bourges terminal, built and operated by the company l'aérienne, opens
its doors. The building has a bar, a restaurant and reception rooms.
With an Art Deco style, it has two facades: street side and runway side.
On June 19, 1940, the Germans entered the city of Bourges and
requisitioned the airport facilities: the factory of the National
Aeronautical Construction Company of the North (SNCAN) and the housing
in the airport district. In 1941, the terminal building was destroyed by
the German army, in order to facilitate the approach of bombers
returning from their missions in England. At the Liberation of 1945, the
plant of the National Society of Aeronautical constructions of the
Center (SNCAC) finds itself in poor condition. It restarted in 1949, the
activity was revived thanks to the production of transport aircraft. In
the 1970s, the plant employed more than three thousand employees, it
also engaged in the manufacture of missiles.
Today, the MBDA
group (European leading industrial group for missiles and missile
systems) has developed its activity there.
The construction of the airport district began in 1931. The streets are named after famous aviators such as Hubert Latham Street, Marcel Haegelen Avenue or René Mesmin Street. The First World War led to a serious housing crisis in the city of Bourges. In order to be able to create homes for people in need, the mayor of the time Henri Laudier was inspired by garden cities, (clean residential areas with green spaces), as well as individual housing very fashionable in France at that time. According to the Loucheur law, this mayor is also considering the project of a Public Office for Cheap Housing and which are the ancestors of the residential housing. These public establishments allow the creation of inexpensive and therefore more accessible houses. At first, the new housing units were supposed to be located opposite the Lautier cemetery but it was finally decided to build them near the aeronautical pole.
The architect in charge of the project Maurice Payret-Dortail and his
team propose a project in which social and collective housing would
coexist with a style similar to the Parisian garden cities of the time,
(Plessis-Robinson on the outskirts of Paris). They are thus separated
into islands with a modern style. The main streets are lined with
multi-family buildings that follow the curves of the roundabouts. Their
inhabitants have access to all the necessary facilities to have a
pleasant family life: small paths, green spaces and squares with
children's games, family gardens.
Work began in 1931 with the
rehabilitation of the western part of the district. In 1934, nine
collective buildings offering 156 dwellings were built, each with its
own development characteristics.
Then came the creation of
individual pavilions between 1933 and 1938. One hundred and eight
pavilions will be built by the companies Leasing and Vialanet. The
engineer Decourt proposes "isothermal houses" which allow better
insulation and thus less energy expenditure for the inhabitants. These
pavilions built on plots of 300 m2 are equipped for family life with
several rooms and a garden.
From 1939 to 1940, with the onset of
World War II, a second collective housing program was implemented. 70
housing units will be created, divided into seven buildings. These
buildings are seeing their aesthetics evolve. They now have balconies
and the facades are varied (some have colored stripes).
During
the Second World War, bombings destroyed forty-nine collective and
individual dwellings and damaged two hundred and forty-seven. The
reconstructions are made from 1946 to 1948. The work is entrusted to
Jean Festoc, who collaborates with Demay who died in 1947. The location
of the buildings repeats that of the initial project of 1935 and the
architecture keeps the modernist spirit in the very geometric treatment
of the facades. It was at the same time that a school group was built.
The project studied in the 1930s had been interrupted by the Occupation,
but the baby boom of the post-war years made this construction
essential.
At the same time, Beaver cities are being built. In
Bourges two beaver cities were born in the 50s: the first between the
Chapel road and Bellevue, the second Guilbeau street in the airport
district, in the immediate vicinity of the garden city. Faced with the
housing shortage, families are uniting in cooperatives. The principle of
these Beaver cities is to allow the most modest to become owners thanks
to solidarity and community because some build for others.
Thus
twenty-three individual pavilions are born. Formed very simply, they are
all on the same alignment slightly set back from the street and all have
a gable on the street. More than fifty years later, the Beavers are
still in place and unlike other construction sectors, these houses have
not aged, their maintenance by the owners has been carried out, and
today, this area remains one of the most popular in the city.
In 2004, the redevelopment of the city of Bourges begins under the
impetus of the PRU (urban renewal plan), the airport district is then
the subject of a major rehabilitation project. In 2005, the choice was
made to renovate the housing of the garden city because it remains one
of the rare French testimonies of this form of urban model and popular
housing. This project is implemented with the help of the State and
validated by the National Agency for Urban Renewal.
At the same
time, 126 housing units are being built at the entrance to the city, 76
of which are social housing units. The latter extend over 5,101 m2 and
16 of them will be adapted for the disabled. The work lasted until
February 201127. These new homes are very economical in terms of energy
and have acoustic properties. In addition, the project also consisted in
maintaining the urban qualities of the site, while adapting it to
current needs. The island cores have been completely taken over and
garages have been set up where possible. The networks have been buried
and new public lighting installed. Finally, the roads have been redone
incorporating bicycle paths. As a result, the general appearance of the
neighborhood has therefore been deeply rejuvenated.
The
rehabilitation of the habitat also concerned 99 pavilions and collective
buildings, properties of the social lessor Bourges Habitat. The work
varied depending on the pavilions concerned. Moreover, about forty of
them were still inhabited at the beginning of the works: relocations
were therefore accompanied and taken care of by the landlord.
Adaptations have been proposed for the maintenance of elderly people,
some of whom had been there since the late 1940s.
Finally, with
few exceptions, the pavilions of the garden city have been completely
restructured outside (gardens, fences, facades) as well as inside
(creation of a larger living room on the ground floor, creation of a
bedroom or a bathroom in the new extensions). A collective vegetable
garden has even been recreated by residents of the city.
The name of this district comes from lieutenant colonel of artillery
Henry Périer de Lahitolle (1832-1879). The latter was appointed director
of the military establishments of Bourges in 1875 thanks to his
invention, the 95 mm cannon which bears his name. For strategic reasons,
Napoleon III decided in 1860 to set up an arms factory in central
France. The choice of the city of Bourges is strategic and political.
Indeed, Bourges is far from the borders, and therefore from invasions.
This choice is also political because Napoleon III responds to a request
from local public authorities who wish decentralization. An artillery
manufacturing complex is being built on the site. It is composed of a
gun foundry, an arsenal for war equipment, a powder magazine and a
pyrotechnics school mainly responsible for projectiles.
At the
end of the XIX century, military establishments were developing. Around
1880, the military establishments become a real town in Bourges with
their own facilities (hospital, prison and shops). This industrial
complex conditions the urban development which allows the extension of
Bourges and the development of its roads. Strip or semi-detached
workers' houses and foremen's or employees' houses were built on the
road to Nevers (today Ernest Renan Avenue).
During the First
World War, the weapons center was operating at full speed. At that time,
the city reached one hundred thousand inhabitants, and therefore to
respond to this increase in population, military barracks were installed
on unoccupied land between Place Malus and the crossroads of Pignoux. A
new district is born in a place called Les Bigarelles, developed first
with temporary constructions then, after the war by hard collective
buildings. Buildings were built from 1918 in Dumones and a few years
later, the garden city of the Fonds-Gaidons appeared.
After this
first world conflict, the production of armaments decreases sharply. The
workers no longer have a job and are leaving. Bourges then regains its
pre-war population. The municipality then decides to diversify the
activities, for example: the construction workshop builds cars, and the
pyrotechnics repairs railway wagons. In 1937, the rearmament of Germany
allows the Lahitolle site to regain its activity. In 1940, during the
Second World War, Bourges was occupied. The Germans discover a valuable
know-how, and requisition the workers to send them to Germany. This
conflict made it possible to modernize military equipment. As a result,
the production of cannons is no longer as important. Lahitolle is
therefore abandoned in favor of complementary sites related to
aeronautics. Faced with this situation, the military establishments of
Lahitolle become the EFAB (Bourges Arms Manufacturing Establishment),
which brings together three sectors of activity: studies, manufacturing
and training.
With the end of the Cold War, the decline in the
activity of the military industries of Lahitolle begins. The public
authorities are mobilizing. The creation of the National Higher School
of Engineers of Bourges (ENSI of Bourges) constitutes the first step
towards the reconversion of the site. Then in 2003, a site contract was
set up. Reflections are carried out on the redevelopment of the site,
the city of Bourges and the general council of Cher proceed to the
acquisition of land.
Today, Lahitolle does not forget its past but resolutely looks to the future by transforming itself into a technopole.
The north of the city of Bourges remained until the end of the Second World War, an essentially rural area. However, since the intense urbanization of the 1950s and 1960s, neighborhoods have developed there with a diversity of habitats and services. These districts are named after: the Chancellery, the Gibjunctions and Pressavois, in addition to the Moulon developed earlier.
The district of Asnières-lès-Bourges (often shortened to Asnières) is a district located at the very north of the Town of Bourges. It is the least close to the city center and, due to its structure close to a village, has a specific identity within Bourges. Most of the houses were built before the twentieth century, but also during the post-war period. Asnières-lès-Bourges, less populated than other districts of the municipality, is provided with numerous gardens, vegetable gardens and land, some of which are fallow and / or abandoned. Locally, the expression to define a path that winds between plots and houses is a path. The neighborhood, which is not very dynamic, has been trying to initiate projects since the political renewal during the municipal elections in 2020, with the weekly installation of a market on the July 14 Square every Thursday.
The Moulon district developed from industrialization in the
nineteenth century. Its habitat is very diverse and marked by the
different urban policies of the city of Bourges. This district takes its
name from the small river that crosses it, the Moulon. However, around
1840, this future district is still located in the countryside.
Soon after, it experienced economic development, several factories were
set up there: from 1847 the Archelet brickworks extracted clay near
Moulon, the Félix Chédin oilcloth factories were created in 1856, the
Montigny shoe factory in 1872, the Helbronner factory specialized in the
supply of military equipment and shoes around 1890 (the army is
omnipresent in Bourges from the 1870s).
Under the effect of this
industrial development, small housing units are emerging from the ground
as in Armand-Bisson Street. Urbanization continued until 1914 along
Felix Chédin Street. But against all odds, it is not only small
working-class houses that are developing there, they rub shoulders with
large bourgeois houses such as the Montigny-Labbé house but also the
Gabard house. They are often the work of the owners of the newly
installed factories. It is from the 1920s that the city of Bourges
launches a policy of social housing management in this district.
The Municipal Office of Cheap housing (OMHBM) of Bourges was created in
1922 and built the first cheap housing (HBM) in the Moulon and Airport
districts. These are small units made from 1923 by the city architect
Petitjean. These are semi-detached pavilions put into operation in 1926.
In 1929, a two-storey building with eight apartments was ready to
receive tenants. This small HBM complex, which includes twenty housing
units in all, is however insufficient: the mayor of Bourges plans to
build about 500. So he decides to move on to a large-scale construction.
A garden city comprising 90 dwellings and four shops which was built
between the end of the year 1931 and the month of April 1933 near the
Félix-Chédin factories (oilcloth factory), the military shoemaking, the
camp and the axle factory. Three small buildings of ten units each
complete this complex integrating gardens and squares33. In the 1930s, a
second operation was launched to complete the garden city. It allows the
erection of 120 housing units, including eight collective buildings and
two pavilions.
At the same time, during the interwar period, the
district will experience the development of suburban pavilions. Indeed,
from 1925, private developers invested in this district. Under the
impetus of the Loucheur law, individual houses equipped with modern
comforts (water, gas and electricity) but also equipped with a garden,
come out of the ground. After the Second World War, the pace of
construction accelerated.
A serious housing crisis is raging in France after the Second World
War. In 1954, a ministry of Reconstruction and Housing was created and
urban planners began the first reflections on large complexes.
In
Bourges, the population is growing rapidly: it goes from 51,010
inhabitants in 1946 to 62,239 in 1962 and will reach 77,300 in 1975.
Several solutions are envisaged to accommodate this influx of people
from the non-well-off social category, most often from rural exodus, and
to relocate families urgently. Military barracks were first used,
installed on the outskirts of the city of Moulon. It is also necessary
to relocate the evicted families from the Avaricum district which had
just been demolished, because it was unhealthy. On the other hand, the
Michelin factory (1,200 workers planned in 1956) opens nearby, in the
neighboring town of Saint-Doulchard. The need for housing is becoming
more and more urgent.
At the time, Bourges had Louis Mallet as
mayor, and under his authority, the reflection is progressing: in the
spring of 1954, the municipality launches the study of a master
development plan which defines the future development of the city. The
north of Bourges is then privileged to erect a very large number of
housing because the city is difficult to develop in the east because of
the marshes and the presence of military establishments and aeronautics.
In 1957, the town hall entrusted the architect Pinon with the program of
several hundred housing units, a program called "Operation Chancellery"
or "Extension to the north of the housing area" on about forty hectares.
About nine hundred housing units are thus built where employees of the
new Michelin factory, civil servants, SNCF employees, artisans, but also
immigrants of Portuguese, Polish, Italian, Spanish origin, returnees
from Algeria settle in these new neighborhoods.
In 1960, the city
of Bourges obtains its inscription on the list of zones to be urbanized
in priority (ZUP) for the northern districts, which will make it
possible to continue the construction of housing in the districts of the
Chancellery and the Gibjunctions on an area of 160 hectares. This new
ambitious project provided for the construction of 5,000 housing units
for a population of 25,000 inhabitants, however, following various
difficulties, only 1,404 housing units of which 1,318 collective were
built in 1966.
The last constructions are completed between 1973
and 1975. Even if the appearance of the housing in these neighborhoods
is dominated by a succession of bars and towers, an important place has
been given to individual housing by creating several subdivisions.
A shopping center opens at the end of the 1960s, with about fifteen
stores and a supermarket. The municipality provides various services and
equipment: a medico-social action center, an annex town hall, a police
station, a post office, a public reading pole with an annex of the
municipal library. Several schools have been built, as well as three
colleges throughout Bourges north, a technical high school, a University
Institute of Technology, an Apprentice Training Center and a faculty of
science, the Alain-Fournier high school moves from the city center and
is located in the Gibbons district. Near the shopping center is the
first collective nursery built in Bourges. At the boundary of
residential areas and agricultural areas, the Gibjons landscape park is
created, a "rural" park, transition between city and countryside.
Around 1969, the Saint-Paul chapel was built, which recalls Le
Corbusier's architectural research in the fifties.
Built on the locality of the same name, this district is part of the
ZUP (area to be urbanized in priority) as are the districts of the
Chancellery and the Gibbons. A wine press belonging in the sixteenth
century to Étienne Houët, merchant and bourgeois of Bourges, gave its
name to the place called Pressoir-Houët, which by distortion of language
became Pressavois. The Pressavois district is the one with the greatest
population density. The buildings of the ZUP are recognizable by their
alignment with little space between them.
It is in this district
that a sports resource, expertise and Performance Center (CREPS) was
opened in 1986. The city also offers the PRJ des Pressavois (Youth
Meeting Point): open to 11-17 year olds, these are places for animation,
exchanges, sharing, listening, information, guidance and support for
individual and collective projects.
From 2014, new housing is
being built especially near the CREPS. They meet the new standards in
terms of sustainable development such as the use of wood and solar
panels. These accommodations are partly apartments for people with
limited budgets but also individual pavilions.
The Chancellery is a district whose name comes from "chancellor", who
was a person in charge of managing the assets of the archbishop and the
chapter of the cathedral of Bourges. In 1947, this area was practically
uninhabited, consisting mainly of fields. But from the 1950s, this
district rises out of the ground. as part of the program called
"Operation Chancellery" or an extension to the north of the housing
area. The first bars of buildings appear quickly.
From 1960, the
second tranche of the Chancellery district is included in the list of
ZUP. The first Chancellery tower was inhabited at the beginning of
September 1964. This 50-meter-high tower has 13 floors and contains 78
apartments. The constructions are first developing around the
Chancellery shopping center.
Between 1961 and 1963, a shopping
center is created, it is in metal structure composed of a supermarket
and a dozen shops organized around patios. The Youth and Culture Center
(MJC) of the Chancellery was built in 1967, and will have a performance
hall, reading room, meeting room, etc. An important place of the ZUP, it
will bring artistic and cultural practices into the new neighborhoods.
It will then be destroyed as part of Urban Renewal.
The
Chancellery has a social center which was managed since 1961 by the Cher
Family Allowances Fund (Caf), with the vocation of being in the heart of
the northern districts to offer activities and involve the inhabitants
in the life of the neighborhood. In January 2010, the Social Center of
the Chancellery was taken over by the City of Bourges.
Between
1964 and 1966, the Saint-Jean church was built, which recalls Le
Corbusier's architectural research in the fifties.
Since the end of the 1980s, the ZUP of Bourges has been declining, in
particular due to numerous departures: three thousand fewer inhabitants
between 1990 and 1999. At the end of the 1990s, the first demolitions
were envisaged.
Under study since 2003, at the initiative of the
mayor of the time Serge Lepeltier, the urban renewal project of Bourges
was signed on May 16, 2005. The work then begins. This project, located
to the north of Avenue De Lattre De Tassigny (between rue François
Villon and route de Saint Michel), constitutes the first phase of the
important project to requalify the Ghibellines district which should
continue further south in the next ten years, after definition of the
new urban project, co-built with the inhabitants. This development
includes the demolition of three towers, the rehabilitation of buildings
(1,082 housing units to be rehabilitated, or about half of the Gibjons
park), the repair of public spaces and roads, the enhancement of the
heart of blocks and wooded areas, the improvement of traffic flow to
allow easier access to public services)
The PRU is continuing in
the Gibbons district, work that began on September 14, 2015 must
continue until 2018. One of the objectives of this project, costing €
7,531,104 including VAT, is to allow the opening of this district to the
city.
Other notable development projects in the early 2010s are :
the mixed district of Avaricum in the city center, which will mix
commercial and tertiary surfaces and housing, parking. The work, which
was initially supposed to be completed during 2010, did not begin until
October 2012 and the opening of the gallery which took place in February
2015 ;
the Baudens eco-district south of the city center, along
the Boulevard du Maréchal-Joffre, also mixed ;
the Lahitolle
technopole to the east of the city center and on the site of the former
artillery manufacturing complex, which has been under development since
the early 2000s, and which is built around teaching and research
activities.
Housing and housing
In 2019, the total number of
dwellings in the municipality was 38,988, while it was 37,687 in 2014
and 36,684 in 2009.
Of these, 83.8% were primary residences, 2.4%
were secondary residences and 13.7% were vacant. These dwellings were
for 44% of them detached houses and for 55.5% apartments.
The
table below shows the typology of housing in Bourges in 2019 in
comparison with that of Cher and the whole of France. A striking feature
of the housing stock is thus a proportion of second homes and occasional
housing (2.4%) lower than that of the department (7.5%) and that of the
whole of France (9.7%). Regarding the occupancy status of these
dwellings, 47.5% of the inhabitants of the municipality own their
housing (46.9% in 2014), compared to 67% for Cher and 57.5 for the whole
of France.