8.2.1. Transports

By creating districts with identities it is easy to lose the general identity of the island, that is why then they decided to create a landscape frame, which could link every district together as Ørestad did with the canal which is going all the length of the neighbourhood. Where we can see a big difference between the two projects, it is in the repartition of the projects types. Indeed, where Nantes decided to occupy the space with 47% residential housing, Ørestad did 20%. If we are still referring to the reparation diagrams (Cf figure 4, 5), 30% of the surface is allocated to the offices. If both projects are talking about an urban mix, Nantes respected better its intention. Nantes didn’t aim a return on investment as high as Ørestad aimed, and they had focused more their thought on the urban-friendly living dimension. 8.2.1. Transports

Many bridges (thirteen bridges) were already existent between the city centre, the island and the southern part of Nantes which linked the 7 different neighbourhoods of the island but they weren't constructed to facilitate the access for citizens but for workers and trucks. An important restructuration of transports was obviously needed. During the large development of the tramway lines in Nantes, it has been decided to create a line which would cross the island at a strategic point that would be an important platform to connect Nantes to the rest of the region. A few years later, they created another line which is a bus line but which works like a tramway line to reduce the overcrowding traffic and create continuity between urban spaces. In the next years, another tramway line should be born and serve the island from the East point to the West point. The island is situated 15minutes far from the airport and close to the train station which is easy to access with the tramway or bus lines. Nantes is very well connected to its city and to the national, international transports.

Figure 14: Intention plan of the restructuration. Source: îledenantes.com