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«There is no truth in public space (...). Sometimes we carry out an after-the-fact adaptive service.»

«Should we protect our green areas from the start against walkers, dogs, etc.? A good method would be to never carry out a project to ‘completion’ and to instead set aside some money to return to the project afterwards and adapt it if necessary. A good project is a project where one is allowed the possibility of continuing. A good project is long-lasting. If a project is not accepted by the population, it changes.»

Interview with Claire Gaillard, Director of Major Infrastructure Works

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Private anti-graffiti teams mandated by the city always operate in pairs: one person is charged with removing the graffiti through sand-blasting, while the other monitors and warns passer-byers. By removing the graffiti through this method, part of the material is removed as well. Often, the teams are brought back to the same areas because the graffiti reappears in the same place.

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The city of Saint-Etienne has a total of about forty-eight markets per week that are distributed over twenty-four different sites. For the maintenance crews, the cleaning of these sites is almost a daily task. Between 13h and 13h30 each day, each maintenance team cleans the markets within its sector. The agents act together: the vehicles arrive, the men disperse, organize the area, and then leave. The action is fast and takes place simultaneously in different districts of the city as a collaboration of different services of both public agency and private companies.

In the city of Saint-Etienne, the markets are one of two types: the “selective-cleaning markets,” where the markets make just a quick first pass of sorting and cleaning their sites before a more thorough intervention by official cleaning services, or the “clean markets,” where the markets themselves are responsible for a more thorough cleaning of their sites and disposal of their own waste. At the end of each market-day, different agents enter the scene in a choreographed ballet: agents of the city clean, a private company recovers the recyclable waste, and agents of the capital collect what remains.

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Recently, a digital application was created that seeks to mobilize citizens by providing them with the means to point out several types of situations that they deem inappropriate in public space.

A rock that blocked car access was the first thing to be reported on the mobile application.

At times, there may be some misconceptions between the choices of designers and maintenance managers and its public users.

This digital application is only the tip of the iceberg. For years, services have used an intranet platform developed by a private company that allows them to keep track of the interaction between its users and public space.

Each time a resident signals an inappropriate situation within the public space, a record is created. The message that is sent by the resident, whether it is an e-mail, a telephone call, a photo, etc., is organized into a mailbox that corresponds with the type of service concerned. Depending on the importance of the situation, the response time varies: some are sensitive, some require study, others simply require a written response, and yet others require direct action by the Rapid Response Service. A follow-up is also noted in the record. Then, a map is created that locates the situations.

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The surface of this pole has been damaged due to friction applied while removing stickers.

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Dead leaves, which are collected around the trees in the city center, are not returned to the green spaces of the city center but are dispersed outside the city in the forests around Saint-Etienne.

«In the city we have time to do things well.»

Interview with two gardeners

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This local stone ages very poorly, and can even become diseased, if it is not protected from the rain. Traditionally, the stone was covered regularly with a plaster that allows it to breathe. To create this plaster, artisans mixed lime and sand together (as is the convention in most parts of France), giving the city’s facades a particular character that was limited to a few colors: ocher, pink, green... Today, the method of mixing this plaster has changed, producing a roughcast plaster that is available in a wider range of colors. Thirty years ago, the City Council proposed a series of colors within this range in order to provide the public with a frame of reference for color choices.

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Grass pesticides can no longer be used today by towns and cities gardeners. Instead, weeds must be removed by hand or by burning. One day, due to this method of removal, the door of a garage caught fire.