PETITE CEINTURE- SECTEUR EST - paris

Photos Yann Monel et Wagon

In 2019, the City of Paris initiated the opening to the public of the Petite Ceinture, a former railway infrastructure that has become a continuous ecological brownfield encircling the capital. Wagon took part in this process as a member of the Ceinturama consortium, responsible for supporting and activating this opening through on-site actions involving local residents, community organisations and municipal services. The approach combined workshops, open construction sites and the creation of “stations” — frugal interventions designed in keeping with the spirit of the place.

Upstream, Wagon carried out a landscape diagnosis of the entire eastern section of the Petite Ceinture. This work was based on a detailed understanding of the specific vegetative dynamics of the railway wasteland and on the identification of existing habitats. Its aim was to define a landscape project grounded primarily in knowledge of living systems and in garden-based management practices, developed in collaboration with social inclusion organisations.

Within this framework, Wagon designed and built the Wild Square on rue de la Mare, in Paris’s 19th arrondissement. The intentionally reversible layout is structured around large wooden terraces evoking the platforms of the former station. Planting is kept to a minimum and is composed exclusively of species already present along the Petite Ceinture, extending existing ecological continuities.

The core of the project lies in accompanying and revealing the spontaneous dynamics of the wasteland. Woodland edges, ballast screes, understorey areas along a rediscovered paved path, and wooded embankments are highlighted and managed through differentiated maintenance. This attention to what is already there strengthens habitat diversity, preserves floral and faunal richness, and offers a wide range of atmospheres accessible to the public.

A dedicated maintenance manual was developed with the City’s departments — the Urban Ecology Agency, DEVE and the Tree Service — and shared gardening sessions were organised with the association Halage, embedding the project within a collective and evolving management approach.

COLLABORATION: Bruit du Frigo ; Anne Labrouille