SAINT PIERRE, CAPITAL OF THE SOUTH
( http://mapio.net/o/3947940/ )
Photos: Cityhall of Saint -Pierre (Communication Service) Texts: Daniéla SOUNDRON Translation: Judith STUART, Mylène SPARTON, Sophie PALMADE Photos: Cityhall of Saint -Pierre (Communication Service) and Internet.
PREFACE
1
A mayor is always tireless when he speaks of his municipality. To avoid this kind reproach, I will summarize my thoughts by saying that Saint- Pierre is a modern city that drives the southern region of Reunion Island and opens it to the world. Let's look at each of these claims. That Saint-Pierre is a modern city, everyone will agree. Its large sunny slopes where urbanization vies with agriculture dominate the city, the harbor, the beach. The city has the best of modern equipment, whether in the field of economy, culture, health, education or research. The various districts of the municipality are subject to extension, rehabilitation and acquire all the local facilities needed by residents. The fishing harbor, the marina and the beach protected by the lagoon make the waterfront of Saint-Pierre one of the most pleasant cities of Reunion Island. Saint-Pierre is the centre of southern Reunion, from Les Avirons to Saint- Philippe and all the way to Cilaos. It is the sub-prefecture; it is the headquarters of intercommunal activites; the Region and the Department have installed branches there. The catchment area of its stores and its supermarkets covers the whole South. And often, Saint-Pierre leads the whole island with the University Institute of Technology, the University Hospital or the Adapted Military Service Regiment. A forward-looking city, Saint-Pierre is an opening not only to the Indian Ocean but to the rest of the world. It is the seat of another territorial unit in full expansion, the French Southern and Antarctic Territories; it "owns" the receiving station for satellite images SEAS-OI; CIRAD (Agricultural Research) is implanted on its soil. Pierrefonds airport already serves regional destinations. It must diversify its missions and, why not? explore ways offered by the decentralized activities of the aeronautical and space industries... Saint-Pierre has not only a past but also a present and looks to the activities of the future. Better than a mayor who can always be suspected of bias, this publication sticks to facts. I thank the authors and invite you to become acquainted with Saint- Pierre, the town where life is good. Michel FONTAINE Senator and Mayor of Saint-Pierre
SAINT PIERRE
,
CAPITAL OF THE SOUTH
2
Saint-Pierre is one of the oldest and most important towns of Reunion Island. It covers 96 km2, although only 12th in the municipal areas of the island. However, it is very densely populated, with 80,823 inhabitants, which makes it the third town in Reunion after Saint-Denis and Saint-Paul, and the 56th largest municipality in France from the perspective of the population. The city itself is Reunion's second largest by its population and its activities, including administrative, agricultural, industrial and the service industries. Born of colonization, it relied on a rich agricultural hinterland and has always wanted to develop urban and harbor activities. The recent trend has strengthened it as a modern regional center. Balancing Saint- Denis in the north of the island, Saint-Pierre is the capital of the South, from Les Avirons and St. Philip through to Cilaos, 10 urban areas out of a total of 24 and with 35% of the population of Reunion.
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/ )
ONE OF THE BEST NATURE-RESOURCED MUNICIPALITIES OF REUNION ISLAND
3
A landscape with few extremes The municipality draws a rectangle limited in the west by La Plaine and the SaintEtienne river, to the east by the ravine of Anse and upstream at the 400m elevation. It extends north-east by a long strip two kilometres wide bounded by the ravine of Petite-Ile and the ravine of Anse, which joins the upper catchment of the Remparts River with the high point of the town (1642 meters). It has a very simple geography. It is formed by the lower part of the gentle slopes leading to the Plain of Kaffirs and the western side of the river Remparts on an ancient lava flow from La Fournaise uplands. These slopes, which are volcanic plateaus, are divided into two sets: East of the Abord river, the 340,000-year old slopes of the city area go right up the western slope of the river Remparts to a rim of the caldera. The higher slopes are hilly and dissected by numerous ravines. More recent fissure eruptions have built peaks that overlook the slopes (Mont Piton green, Basin Piton Martin) and issued lava flows that rejuvenate the soil. The lower slopes are more and more regular, drained by spaced but deep gullies, with wooded slopes reminiscent of "gallery forests". They anticipate by their appearance the second set, the admirable unfolding slopes west of the river Abord, formed by old cast of more than 150 000 years. The planèze is somewhat steep and uniform, bounded on the west by the steep slope of the Plain arm. Gullies are few and collected; only the most important (Ravine Blanche Ravine des Cabris) have a marked depression, bordering vast interfluves conducive to human activities.
Southwest of the town, these slopes lead to the calm horizons of the plain of Pierrefonds.
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This is an alluvial plain based on flows of the Piton des Neiges, another stratovolcano which forms the northwestern part of the island. This plain has its counterpart on the right bank of the Saint-Etienne, the plain of Gol, which is part of the municipality of Saint-Louis The few episodes explosive volcanoes that formed the Reunion projected atmospheric ash and pyroclastic tuffs that were deposited in Bois d'Olive and especially near the le Diable, on the western outskirts of the city. They have a time been exploited to manufacture cement (clinker).
Geography of St. Pierre
The eastern slopes are steeper than those of the west and the rivers are more abrupt. The town opens widely onto the sea. Except for the right side of the Pierrefonds plain where it is regular, low and alluvial, the coast is rocky everywhere, high in the east of the river Abord, and lower to the west . It is jagged with caps and small coves. In places like Grands-Bois in Terre-Sainte or in Saint-Pierre, coral reefs isolate a lagoon, hemming the shore of white sand beaches.
A windward climate Just as in all of Reunion, Saint-Pierre enjoys a tropical oceanic climate, hot and humid, fairly uniform throughout the year. However, it has two seasons, one, "summer", hot and humid
5
from
November to April, which is also the cyclone season, the other "winter", cooler and
drier, from May to October. The annual average temperature reaches 27°. It changes little during the year, the average of the hottest months reaching 30° in January and one of the coolest month 24° in August. The annual temperature range is only 6° against more than 16° in Paris. Rainfall is 940 mm per year, of which almost two thirds occur from January to May. The wettest month is February while October is the driest month. The number of rainy days is relatively small, 115 per year on average. This irregularity of rainfall during the year is also reflected from one year to another: there was 1160mm of rain in 1967 and 935mm in 1970 to take only two examples
Ombrothermic diagram of Saint-Pierre (red temperatures, blue precipitation)
This relatively warm and dry climate compared to the rest of the island is due to the city's position on the leeward south coast. The prevailing wind, the trade winds, blows from the east and faces a mountain barrier oriented northwest to southeast. It loses its moisture and is a
6
dry wind that descends on Saint-Pierre. The wind also blows parallel to the coast, arriving Southeast and bringing no rain as it meets no major obstacles.
Natural advantages Due to erratic rains and the importance of evaporation, the town suffers from drought. For regularity of crops, irrigation is necessary below 200 meters and desirable up to 400 meters at least. The soils are, on the whole, rich. In the southwest, the alluvial soils of Pierrefonds are fertile but stony and permeable. They are relayed to the east by young brown soils rich in minerals; and in altitude by ferralitic soils that are more leached and more evolved and also by beige ferralitic soils that are more acid and therefore less fertile. But, overall, the Saint-Pierre soils are in use as they are and make up the agricultural wealth of the region, especially since differences in altitude favor the practice of diverse crops.
The Federation of Agricultural Co-Operatives of Reunion Island ( http://www.reuniondirectory.com/_bibli/annonces/4120/photos-hd/selection-galerie-photo-reunion-directory-ssr5-.jpg)
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A SETTLEMENT AND AN ENHANCEMENT DETERMINED BY PLANTATION AGRICULTURE
Bir th of a city and a neighbourhood – Origins and development of a district The south of the island, despite its natural resources, was occupied and developed a half-century after the final settlement of Bourbon near Saint-Paul and Sainte-Suzanne. From 1717 Bourbon was no longer content to produce food for passing ships: she began to produce great coffee for the Metropolis.
Between 1719 and 1728 concessions were granted in the West, first between the pond of Gol and the Saint-.Etienne river, then around the Abord river and even to the Remparts river. The first concessions were as big as those already granted to St. Paul or St. Suzanne, but soon, given the magnitude of the demand, the concessions had to be smaller. A survey work more exact than any other in the island delineated concessions, not only "between two ravines, but the strips of land at the top of the mountains", but also by delineating the slopes along the 100 meters contour (Paradise Line), the 200 meters (Bamboo line), 400 and 600 meters. These survey lines become paths parallel to the shore, a typical arrangement that makes the originality of the Saint-Pierre hinterland.
Settlers came in droves: mostly from St. Paul, but also people from France, former military, repentant pirates... They augmented the importance of their habitations with the help of slaves from Africa, Madagascar and even from India. Although coffee was the dominant culture, it shared the ground with food crops (corn, wheat, rice, vegetables) and livestock. Because of transportation difficulties, the habitations tended towards self-sufficiency. But all this does not go very far: in 1735, the areas around Saint-Pierre and Saint-Louis, which goes from Les Avirons to the Remparts free has only 290 free inhabitants and 1,525 slaves.
The need, however, is emerging for the creation of a trading post. The mouth of the Abord river was the most likely spot: although the river is almost always dry, a resurgence provided water; a small bay could accommodate the boats needed for sea connections with St.
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Paul. In 1733 Governor Dumas ordered the drawing of a plan that Labourdonnais created only in 1736: the city was called Saint-Pierre as one of the first names of Pierre Benoit Dumas. A new grid plan, with 230 locations, was designed by Gabriel Dejean and is now part of the present-day city. Saint-Pierre was a small administrative center (seat of the head of the district), a religious center (a church was built in 1754) and a center for trade, receiving goods and shipping out coffee to St. Paul both by land and by sea. In 1777 Banks improved the plan of the city, which in
1786,
which
had
no
more
than
400
or
500
inhabitants.
Saint-Pierre, a showpiece of the plantation system Competition from the Caribbean encouraged coffee production on Bourbon Island, where spices (clove, pepper...) also began to be cultivated. The loss of the Ile de France (Mauritius) in 1815, drew Reunion Island into a new economic cycle, that of sugar. Saint-Pierre, like the rest of Reunion at the time, practiced mixed farming, with both export commodities and products intended for feeding the population.
The sugar factory in Pierrefonds
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Gradually, the cultivation of sugarcane became dominant: it extended to Saint-Pierre on 13.4% of cultivated land in 1832 to 61.5% in 1856. It is an industrial culture which is transformed in mills and, later, in factories--which require capital. Land structures changed in favor of large properties: firstly, they must be big enough for the factories to be profitable; secondly, with the abolition of slavery, smallholders who subsisted through the work of a few slaves could not afford to pay wages and ceased operations. Large plantations came into being. But by far the greatest part of suitable land was acquired by CrĂŠdit Foncier and especially by the "dynasty" of the Kerveguen family who owned up to 30,000 ha throughout the island, primarily in the southern lands between Les Avirons and Saint-Philippe.
With the growth of the sugarcane industry, the population of Saint-Pierre increased: between 1779 and 1848, the population went from 4,916 to 15,454 inhabitants as a result both of natural growth and of people moving to the municipality. The creation of large plantations favors, after 1848, immigration of workers from Africa and India, bringing the population to 30,000 in 1872. The city itself was expanding, the small town was turning into small regional center. It was home to 3,287 people in 1834 and 6,500 in 1931. It extended to the space it will keep until departmentalization in 1946: in the west to Suffren Street, and north to La Caserne. It is supplied with water from the 1827 Saint-Etienne canal, bringing water from the river of the same name and irrigating land in Pierrefonds and supplying the city and the sugar factories. The commercial function developed through ships anchored off the Saint- Pierre markets and exporting products from the region (sugar, rum, coffee) and importing rice and manufactured goods from France. A wholesale market redistributed the goods in an area from Saint- Louis to Saint-Philip and retail businesses thrived. Thanks to sugar, St. Pierre is a dynamic city whose influence extends throughout the South.
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Kerveguen wharehouse(Zinfos974.com )
Washerwomen along the Canal Saint-Etienne
A sugar cane crisis aggravated by the construction of the harbor The prosperity brought by sugarcane did not last. The sugar economy went into a period of crisis as a result of internal and external causes. In 1859, a cholera epidemic
11
decimated the workforce; in 1863, the sugarcane borer attacked the plantations; malaria appeared and became the leading cause of death. More fundamentally, Reunion sugar faced competition on the French market with sugar beet and on the world market with sugar from Cuba. Prices fell and the profitability of Reunion sugar-based farming methods and ageing industrial processes is no longer guaranteed. Acreage decreases, and sugar production in SaintPierre went from 7,000 tonnes in 1871 to 3,100 tons in 1885.
Solutions are sought in the development of the highlands, such as the culture of geranium in Le Tampon, according to archaic methods: slash and burn and distillation of the leaves in stills. War however revived the cultivation of sugarcane and from 1920 the sugar economy was reorganized. The great plantations were dismantled into medium and large properties owned by families or corporations. The factories were modernized and centralized (Grands Bois, La Caserne, Pierrefonds).
The Abord river and the harbor of Saint-Pierre
The Mascarene partition in 1815 and the sugar economy necessitate the implementation of a true commercial harbor. Three harbors are opened to international trade, Saint- Denis, Saint-Paul and Saint-Pierre. St. Denis wanted a commercial harbor to strengthen its role as regional capital, Saint-Pierre to assert itself as a regional center. As early as 1854 the first stone of the harbor of Saint-Pierre was laid.
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Despite technical financial problems and the opposition of the people of North and East, the work is undertaken. With the sugar crisis, they are interrupted in 1867. The state decided in 1875 to build a harbor at Galet Point and a railway from Saint-Pierre to Saint-Benoit via Saint- Denis. The city of Saint-Pierre does not abandon its harbor project and borrows in order to achieve it. Work resumed in 1879 and ended in 1883. In competition with the harbor of Galet Point opening in 1886, the harbor of Saint-Pierre never really worked in good economic conditions and was completely abandoned between 1935 and 1952.
As a result of these difficulties the population stagnated between 1872 and 1940. Even more than the creation of the town of Entre-Deux in 1882 within the limits of Saint-Pierre, it is the gradual slowing of foreign immigration which explains this stagnation. From 1921, the population grew but through natural growth, despite new amputations of the municipal area through
the
creation
of
Tampon
in
1925
and
Petite-Ile
in
1935.
The remoteness of Saint-Denis and its rich agricultural hinterland allowed Saint-Pierre to win in the South. With 8,017 inhabitants, in the beginning of departmentalization it plays the role of a small regional center of balance and is a branch of the capital with administrative and political facilities as well as judicial (court), health (hospital) and economic (bank branches) services. The terminus of the railway, the city enjoys a certain autonomy from Saint- Denis, with its own import-export houses and a small but dynamic commercial and industrial bourgeoisie.
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The University Hospital in Saint Pierre (www.guidedesdemarches.com)
Saint Pierre ‘s County Clerk ( ile-de-lareunion.info)
THE POPULATION OF SAINT-PIERRE
Population growth Like all of Reunion, since 1921 Saint-Pierre entered the demographic transition which accelerated after the War. The municipal population amounted in 1946 to 22,334 inhabitants.
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It increased rapidly before experiencing slow growth. Thus, between 1946 and 1954, like the other cities of Reunion Island, Saint-Pierre increased its population by 24.1% instead of 13.5% for Reunion, pathological urbanization generating slums in Saint-Pierre as well as in Saint-Denis or Le Port.
Stalled by the urbanization of Le Tampon, the growth of the Saint-Pierre population slowed to a rate close to that of the general population of the island, unlike other cities with a more dynamic demography. However, between 2007 and 2012, the increase was maintained due to reverse migration, becoming positive during this period, unlike Reunion as a whole. In total, the municipality of St. Pierre has a population of over 82,000 inhabitants. According to the INSEE projections, it will have 96,000 inhabitants by 2030.
Open market of Saint-Pierre
The population growth reflects an ongoing demographic transition. The mortality rate has collapsed from 11.5 °/°° on average between 1961 to 1967 to 8.6 °/°° between 1967 to 1974 to stand at 5.4 °/ °° between 2007 and 2012. The decline in the birth rate was slowed down, starting from a peak of 50.4 °/°° in 1950/1957 to 30.8 °/°° in 1961/1967 and 17.3 °/°° in 2007/2012. Natural growth was reduced from 35.5 °/°° in 1950/1957 to 17.9 °/°° between 2007
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and 2012, but remains high. In general, the death rate is lower in Saint-Pierre and the birth rate higher than the average of the island.
Population structure Concerning the age distribution of the population, the Saint- Pierre rates are slightly lower than those of Reunion, except for working-age adults where they are superior. The high birth rate is responsible for the young population. At Saint-Pierre as in all Reunion, nearly a third of the population is under 20, while in France, the proportion stands around a quarter. In all three cases, there are more boys than girls. Conversely, there are proportionally twice as many people aged over 65 in France compared to Reunion and Saint-Pierre. But in this age women are much more likely than men, which is consistent with their higher life expectancy. Table 1: Breakdown by sex and broad age groups (2012)
SAINT PIERRE
REUNION
FRANCE
Men
Women
Men
Women
Men
Women
0-19
33.8%
30.0%
34.5%
31.1%
26%
23.3%
20-64
58.5%
59.4%
57.5%
58.7%
57.4%
55.9%
65 and over
7.7%
10.5%
8%
10.2%
16.6%
20.8%
Source: INSEE, Census of Population
Overall, the average age of the Saint-Pierre population is slightly higher than that of Reunion. Saint- Pierre has fewer young people and almost as many elderly as the island as a whole. However, the adult population aged 20 to 64 years there is more numerous: it is the working age where demand for employment and housing is highest, and which weighs the most on municipal supply.
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The distribution by sex shows an imbalance in favor of women who form 51.7% of the SaintPierre population proportion equivalent to that of Reunion (51.6%). This imbalance is more pronounced than in France: sex ratio (number of men per 100 women) reached 93.43 in SaintPierre, 93.92 and 94.82 in Reunion in France.
Population distribution The average density is very high indeed due to a rush to urbanize: 842 people per square kilometer (Reunion, 333). Both in rural and urban areas, the municipality of SaintPierre has great contrasts. Urban areas (downtown, Basse-Terre, Terre-Sainte, Casernes) exceed 4,500 hab. / Km2. Conversely, the Pierrefonds cane fields or the eastern slopes of La Rivière D’Abord are empty. Traditionally, this distribution was linked to rural land structures and the presence of old sugar mills. Thus, the coastal area, apart from the city itself with high densities, is sparsely populated in the west, more in the east. The average area was traditionally sparsely populated, as few settlers crossed the canal Saint-Etienne in the middle of a dry zone, a kind of savannah of "pepper trees", aloes, and tamarinds from India. With suburbanization, densities increase rapidly along the roads (Bois d'Olive, Ligne Paradis). The upper part, more ventilated and cooler, attracts both rural and urban people and is rapidly changing: Ravine des Cabris, now integrated in the Greater Saint- Pierre at large, Ligne des Bambous, Terre Rouge,Mont-Vert‌
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Terre Sainte and its beach (pedagogie1.ac-reunion.fr )
"Empty" and "full" densities of contrasting populations.
The socio-professional composition Recent developments in socio-professional composition shows, unsurprisingly, a decrease of agricultural workers and farmers; a sharp increase in the number of craftsmen, traders and entrepreneurs; a significant increase in the number of executives, intellectual professions and intermediate professionals; an increase in the number of employees and workers... However, the Saint-Pierre population has a socio-professional composition closer to that
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of Reunion as a whole than that of St. Denis which is amazing for the second city of the island. Despite diffused urban sprawl, agricultural operators are well represented and exploit the good Saint- Pierre land. The unemployed and people without activities would be fewer without the training deficit of the entire working-age population. Executives and intellectual professions could have been more represented without the proximity of residential towns like Le Tampon. It is the same with workers, the proportion is limited by the attractiveness of the city at the heart of its region.
Table 2: Households by socio-professional category of the reference person (2012) Number of households
Population concerned
Households Meeting (%)
30 255 (100%)
79 468 (100%)
100%
445(1.5%)
1419(1.8%)
1.5%
Merchants, craftsmen, heads of enterprises in
1684 (5.6%)
4834 (6.1%)
5.4%
Executives and intellectual professions
1368 (6.2%)
4960 (6.2%)
6.2%
Associate professionals
4073 (13.5%)
10361 (13%)
12.5%
Employees
5827 (19.3%)
15,349 (19.3%)
18.2%
5763 (19%)
18,566 (23.4%)
21%
Pensioners
5907 (19.5%)
11,296 (14.2%)
20.4%
No activities
4687(15.5%)
12684 (16%)
14.7%
Assembly Operators farmers
Workers
Source: INSEE, population census
This relative under-representation of managers is also a feature of the Saint- Pierre population. "Entrepreneurs, professionals, public service executives or companies represent less than 9% of active employees of Saint-Pierre, against 12.7 in Saint-Denis 9.3 and the departmental average." (2) In terms of management functions, the under-representation of the private sector and the state is compensated by a more important place in local communities.
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In any case, this socio-professional composition reflects the economy of the southern capital, which must deal with the presence of nearby towns.
I Ibrahim Patel ( chairman of the Chamber of Commerce )at Saint Denis city hall , launching the forum «entrepreneurs of the future » in front of more than 350 important persons acting on the world of work . May 2016 .( http://www.zinfos974.com/Le-visage-de-l-entrepreneur-du-futur_a101308.html)
A WELL-BALANCED ECONOMY Heir to a plantation economy, and following a deliberate policy of industrialization, the "well-balanced regional hub” of Saint-Pierre has a diversified economic structure. The per capita fiscal capacity is the third of the island, preceded only by those of Le Port and Saint-Denis.
General features Saint-Pierre's economy is typical of Reunion Island and shares its main features. Primarily a service economy, often local, it is centred around 57% of all establishments and 80% of employees. In this service industry, the public sector has the lion's share with 37% of jobs. The productive sphere provides the remaining 43% of businesses and only 20% of employees.
It follows that businesses are small. In Saint-Pierre 72% (Reunion, 73%) of them have no paid employees; 23% less than 10 (Reunion, 21.5%). Establishments with more than 50 employees are rare: 79 or 0.8% of total (Reunion, 0.94%). These belong to the industrial, the
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large retail, and the public service sectors. Saint-Pierre's hospital is the largest employer in the South.
Table 3: Establishments and employment by sectors of activity (2013) Establishments
Total employment
Saint-Pierre
RĂŠunion
Saint-Pierre
RĂŠunion
Agriculture
12,2%
5,3%
833
2,5%
3,5%
Industry
6,7%
7,4%
2603
7,9%
6,9%
Constructions
8,2%
9,8%
1638
5%
7%
Trade, transports, Services
57,4%
62,4%
13158
39,8%
39,3%
Administration, education, 15,6% health, social services
15%
14830
44,9%
43,3%
Total
100%
33068
100%
100%
100%
Source: INSEE
The distribution of establishments by major economic sectors does show differences: looking only at employment, the primary sector and construction provide proportionally fewer jobs in Saint-Pierre than in the rest of the island. However, for industry and public and private services, Saint-Pierre rates exceed the island average. The economy of Saint-Peter appears less unbalanced than Reunion as a whole.
A modernized agricultural center Agriculture remains an important activity. UAA reached 5,280 hectares, including 3,330 just for sugarcane, the third of the island in surface area after Saint-Benoit and Saint-Paul. It is divided into a thousand or so farms, three quarters of them devoted to cane. The sugar factories have closed, but that of Gol is nearby. Modern irrigation from branches of the Plaine in 1970 and land reform conducted by the SAFER allow good agricultural yields and crop diversification, moreover favored by changes in eating habits and the development of the urban market. Fruit and vegetable crops as well as animal husbandry complete the range of
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agricultural products. Saint-Pierre plays a major role in Reunion’s agricultural development with a dairy and an abattoir for animal products, and a wholesale market for crops. It also has an important
center
of
agronomical
research
(3P
Pole
CIRAD).
CIRAD experimental station in Bassin Plat, amidst a rich sugar area
The second fishing center in Reunion Island Saint-Pierre became the second Reunion fishing center after Le Port. Fishing activity, traditionally located in Terre Sainte, has also developed in the port of Saint-Pierre, once it turned into a fishing port and marina. Port capacity was increased to 380 rings. In addition to traditional fisheries, longliners fished off on 7 FADs (fish aggregating devices) submerged off the south coast.
Its touristic assets
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Saint-Pierre is the hub of tourism in the South to Cilaos, the plain of Cafres and Le Volcan or especially towards the wild south. The beach and the marina make Saint-Pierre the most pleasant resort of the island. In Reunion, beach-going tourist in five has enjoyed the beach of Saint-Pierre. The beach Gardens were developed in 2005. A whole system of social, economic, cultural and leisure activities make a sea front as pleasant and well served as any in Reunion. Tourism is not yet, however, all it could be--even if Saint-Pierre is, after Saint-Denis and Saint-Gilles-les-Bains, the city the most visited by tourists.
Industrial and commercial dynamism Industrial and commercial enterprises welcome increased activity. Important zones of activities are located west of Saint-Pierre. Covering 111 hectares, they are the third industrial center of the island after Le Port and Saint-Denis. They include six areas of activities. The oldest is the Industrial Zone No. 1 located at Ravine Blanche. Founded in 1968, it is dominated by large retailers (food and automotive) and constitutes a kind of "city gateway" to Saint-Pierre from the weSaint-ZI No. 2 (Ligne Paradis), northwest of the city is dedicated since its inception
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in 1974 mainly to production activities, and has many large Saint-Pierre companies (CILAM). In the midst of cane fields to the west of the city lie the ZI No.3 and No.4 and the plant nursery area. ZI No. 3 is one of the emblematic areas of Saint-Pierre. It hosts two structural facilities for the South, the Abattoir and Wholesale Market. It extends to the west by the Industrial Zone No. 4, done in 2006. South of the ZI 3, on the other side of the dual carriageway, the Nursery area is privately owned and predominantly commercial. The town has also developed the UDZ (Urban Development Zone) Canabady: hypermarket and shopping gallery, sports goods store, frozen food stores, car dealer... with ample parking. On the other side of town, to the east, develops BIA Indian Ocean, including the IUT and a receiving antenna of satellite images. Further east still, in Cafrine, a local commercial activity center by Maxime River was established in 1994. It is dedicated to activities related to the automotive, logistics distribution depots, as well as production activities ...
Secondhand market Saint-Pierre, in ZI n°3 (www.kameloorganisation.com)
SAINT-PIERRE, THE CIT Y
"Saint Pierre, capital of the south, was always intended to be lively and the city of
exuberance, right in the middle of a beautiful and rich countryside on the road that leads to Les Plaines, the only one that crosses the island till the terminus of the former railway " . The site as well as the situation present many assets : the mouth of the Rivière d’Abord forms a small cove
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which shelters rowboats what’s more a resurgence of the river provides fresh water. The city covers 487 ha; its urban structure opposes the center and the outskirts.
The city center Populated by 11 000 inhabitants, the city covers 230 ha between La Rivière d’Abord on the east, the ocean on the south , Lorion Street on the west and the canal Saint-Etienne on the north. The streets cut across each other at right angles, lined with shops, offices, buildings, villas .... On the east, the town hall, the county clerk , the court, the County and Regional Council advisory services constitute an outline of an administrative area, while the post office is located off-center on the west. North of downtown, all over the ventilated slopes, beautiful Creole villas can be seen along various streets , be it Babet, Archambaud or Marius and Ary Leblond. But the overall appearance remains that of a quadrangular colonial town, a kind of residential housing estate devoided of well affirmed centralities, located outside the area of the town hall and the harbor.
A creole Villa , saint pierre (www.mapfrance.com)
The center gathers 11 000 jobs, divided between 1200 public or private institutions . Even if some public facilities are regionally orientated , the others mainly meet the needs of the resident population (schools, public safety, social welfare activities ...). Similarly, the commercial sector is primarily attended by "regional" customers but mainly focuses on the supply of goods and community-based services. The best represented sectors embrace the food and non-food retail trade , the automobile sector , followed by services to individuals which account for one
25
third of the jobs. The beach front together with the harbor are main assets to the development of hotels, restaurants and leisure activities.
The city center of Saint Pierre
The suburbs
The outskirts have long been poor. From 1850 onwards , the city extends on the left bank where is built the neighborhood of Terre Sainte , home to workers and craftsmen in charge of the building of the harbor . Fisheries developed in 1880 sheltered by the harbor and its pier . This is the only place on the whole island to be considered as a "fishing village", with
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rowboats on the shore in the shade of banyan trees, its lifestyle, its narrow sloped streets, its staircases , its modest storey houses.... The better-off segment of the population lives on the slopes and along the RN2 . Terre Saint neighborhood had been restructured and modernized. It spread eastward, enriched with important facilities (High school, University Institute of Technology (UIT) , Military Service). It changed with the Urban Development Zone of the Indian Ocean. Roughly speaking , it has a total population of 10, 000 inhabitants.
To the west, Ravine Blanche used to be a "suburb" where slums shouldered with a rural area hit by drought . As soon as the 1960s, it became one of the first neighborhoods in Reunion Island to accommodate " large communities". Indeed ,more than 2,000 homes including 75% of social rental housing were built. Ravine Blanche became a "new town" of 7,000 inhabitants with an industrial area , housing, car trade, retail sector (supermarkets)... The development of its coastal area (picnic areas , bowling rinks , surfing spots , beach volley, street markets ...).
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Saint-Pierre: Its City Hall, which used to be a store of the East India Trading Company.
At the north, Les Casernes , a rural-urban mix neighborhood , was implanted around the sugar cane factory of the same name; the latter closed down but it still remains a sugar cane reception center to be afterwards conveyed to Le Gol sugar cane factory.
The neighborhood extends northwest with the poor district of Basse-Terre crossed by the canal Saint-Etienne. With Joli Fond , the total population tends to 9,000 inhabitants. These
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areas had been rehabilitated. Supermarkets settled there ( Les Casernes , Canabady Urban Development Zone).
Saint Etienne Canal , Saint Pierre (www.randoreunion.fr)
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SAINT PIERRE AS A COUNTRY Separated by empty areas dedicated to agriculture, contrasted districts spread from the West to the East of the city, with two important centers named : Ravine des Cabris and Grands Bois.
The west districts Located in the north-western part of the municipality, Ravine des Cabris extends on soft slopes between 100 and 300 meters above sea level. In spite of a certain drought and sometimes stony grounds, it used to be a prosperous agricultural zone with coffee then sugar cane fields spread over vast domains (eg : Kervéguen’s latifundium in the second half of the 19th century). The population is dispersed and the urbanization spread out, infringing on irrigated spaces. The population reaches 12.000 inhabitants. Amenities and shops are located in its center which makes of it a more urban –like area. Bois d ’Olive is located the region upstream of Ravine des Cabris. It used to be a popular area where sugar cane workers from the great domain at Pierrefonds used to live in poorly built houses. This town is well known due to Father Favron ‘s commitment, building an old people’s home in 1952, a care centre for children with disabilities, a retirement home, a nursing auxiliary school….The birth of an area dedicated to business lead to the building of hundreds of social housing units, facilities, including a high school. With its rural–like landscapes and its orchards, Bois d’Olive became a residential area which now counts 8000 inhabitants. Although Ravine des Cabris
and Bois d’Olive ended up joining into a sole urban
area, it’s not yet the case for Ligne des Bambous and Ligne Paradis located in the central part of the territory owned by the municipality, not far from the RN3 (National Highway ). Located along the RD28, from which comes its name, Ligne des Bambous crosses Condé Concession before running till Tampon. Condé Concession is still a rural district located on the heights which is getting more and more urbanized with the building of numerous villas. This location benefits from all amenities. Its 8000 inhabitants are more or less equally dispatched between Ligne des Bambous and Condé Concession. Down below, we can discover Ligne Paradis running along the RD38. It’s also a residential and rural area counting more than 3500 inhabitants. Isolated in the western part of the municipality, Pierrefonds
is a hamlet which
consists of a wide agricultural area crossed by numerous lines of traffic. The oldest sugar cane
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factory of the island built between 1820-1830 gave birth to this village. This factory closed down in 1970. The former workers’ houses had been renovated and today co-exist side-by-side with villas. While waiting for the great development of the area, Pierrefonds is presently counting some 2000 inhabitants.
The plain of Pierrefonds. In the foreground, the airport, in the middle the business area, in the background, The Piton Des Neiges (a mountain 3069 metres high ) overhanging the slopes of Saint Louis and Entre Deux.
The Eastern districts.
East of the town of Saint-Pierre, Grands Bois is the main urban area. It stretches over 3 kilometres along the RN2, from Ravine des Cafres to Ravine de l’Anse. It counts 6000 inhabitants. The development of this area is linked to the sugar cane economy since 1834 which brought slaves and volunteers. The closing down of the factory in 1991 slew down its development considering that two third of its workers, be it seasonal workers in the fields or in the factory, had been dismissed. Trades and amenities thus worked in slow motion despite the
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presence of a “littoral resort ”. Thanks to the rerouting built between 2007 and 2010, the rehabilitation of the historical heart of the city was possible between 2010 and 2012, including trades, amenities, housing around the former factory and the former runway. Grands Bois should know a brand new start. Uphill and to the west, there are still some areas mainly dominated by agriculture but which are little by little swallowed by urbanisation. Located between Ravine des Cafres and Terre Sainte, Terre-Rouge shelters the largest university hospital of the south. The sugar cane fields lead to a wooded coast which overhang the ocean by a cliff and uphill we discover Bassin Plat and Bassin Martin . The whole lot only counts a bit less than 2000 inhabitants. Mont Vert Les Bas is located along Rivière des Cafres, between 300 and 450 metres high, dominated by a volcanic cone called Piton Mont-Vert with its 636 metres high, its eye-catching damaged crater. Up further, about 650 metres high, Mont Vert les Hauts meets Hubert De Lisle Road between Bérive (Tampon) and Piton des Goyaves (Petite-Ile ) with which it tends to form a sole urban area. This area is dedicated to Cattle and pig breeding together with market gardening and fruit growing including a specialty in strawberry growing. The Domain Vidot is a vivid testimony of the development of green tourism. A bit more than 5000 inhabitants are dispatched between
Mont-Vert Les Bas and Mont Vert les Hauts.
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V
VidotVidot Domain , (alain.martel.pagesperso-orange.fr), ( www.mi-aime-a-ou.com640 × 425)
Contrasted level of development Saint-Pierre is part of the island’s municipalities where areas have a noticeable gap in their development. Inner city areas together with agricultural areas cover the largest part of the municipal district. The first ones spread in the North part and the West part of the city center. They start from Les Casernes and Basse-Terre, going through Ligne-Paradis and Bois d’Olive up to Ravine des Cabris and Condé Concession. The west part of Terre Sainte is also included. What is amazing is that They shelter half of the population of Saint-Pierre. Unemployment strikes 40 % of the breadwinners and it even reaches a rate of 56 % in the district of Trou du Chat at Terre-Sainte. The housing environment mainly consists in individual habitats
and is
often of poor quality. Fortunately, it’s quickly improving and social housing are more numerous. Social ruling classes or people of middle classes are settling, the same configuration as at Condé Concession, the third households in the district of Saint-Pierre.
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affluent neighborhood for its numbers of
well-off
Data source provider:INSEE
The agricultural districts occupy the West (Pierrefonds) and the East (Mont-Vert-LesHauts and Mont-Vert-Les-Bas) where 20% of the households live on the agricultural farming. This activity remains omnipresent in Grands Bois, Ligne des Bambous and Ravine des Cabris. The most developed districts are those of Saint Pierre and Ravine des Cabris city centers. They are characterized by a certain dynamism in trade, economy and culture entailing the presence of skilled trades together with numerous amenities. One fifth of the residents of the municipality of Saint-Pierre lives there, with a mixture of different social classes, including well-off households. We could even divide these breadwinners into three equal categories. Nearly 3 of them out of 10 are corporate executives, business managers or professionals. Nearly another third is part of the labour force or are employees. The last third is still unemployed. Some districts are socially characterized. The "Hyper center", around the city hall, concentrates more than anywhere else, the ruling and middle social classes (40% of the households). West of the city center, a portion of Ravine Blanche establishes a "working-class district" of 2400 inhabitants, accomodated in an old social housing environment. There are
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lower social categories and unemployment is more present than in the city center. 24 % of the heads of the households are labourers, 20% are employees. The district including "Terre Rouge/Bassin Plat/Bassin Martin" also occupies a particular position. It is at the same time agricultural and residential. Actually, 13% of the households live on small farms and agricultural workers constitute 26% of the total. Being situated on the side of the road leading to Le Tampon and being close to the city o f Saint-Pierre, this district attracts a well-off population : 13% of the heads of the households belong to prevalent categories, that is more than in town. What's more, there the unemployment rate is also lower, except in "the hyper center".
The main church in Tampon ‘(fr.wikipedia.org)
ISSUES AND OPPORTUNITIES TO REACH "A REGION AL BALANCE AMOUNG THE DISTRICTS" As most cities, Saint-Pierre has to face problems of land use planning and development.
SOCIAL ISSUES The choice of Le Tampon as a residential city deprived Saint-Pierre of well-off category of the population which works there but does not live there. Thus, the median income does not even reach the average Reunioneese income and places Saint-Pierre at the 14th place out of the 24 municipalities of Reunion Island. This relative poverty of the inhabitants is reflected in more degraded indicators than those of Reunion on the whole, such as the relatively high rates of the ones enjoying the basic welfare benefits, the households with non-taxable incomes, the population with no diplomas, the households deprived of cars...
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Unemployment is more present than in the rest of the island: 37.7% against 35.9% (according to the census). This situation is all the more paradoxal in the view of the fact that Saint-Pierre is an important job creator for the population of the surroundings municipalities. The question of housing is of a real acuteness. The precarious and unhealthy dwellings are relatively numerous and concentrate in some districts. Nevertheless, a lot had been built: the rate of social housing exceeds that of Reunion Island on the whole. And yet, in 2013, there used to be 3812 pending requests for social housing. Table 4 : Household composition (2012) Number of households
The household population
Number
%
RĂŠunion%
Number
%
Total
4446
100%
100%
11 558
100%
One-person households
1070
24,1%
24,5%
1070
Other households with no family
118
2,7%
3%
324
Childless couples
1043
23,5%
16,8%
2262
Couples with children
1622
36,5%
35%
6242
Single-parent families
592
13,5%
20,6%
1661
Data source provider : INSEE Population census.
Land use planning The disparities in development between the districts together with the increased urbanization of a relatively narrow territory makes of the land planning a priority. Every district is the object of a program of specific land planning. From the start, Saint-Pierre joined the Urban policy which transformed its districts and changed the life of its inhabitants. *Making 11% of the households. The average in Reunion Island represents 12%, Tampon 6%, Le Port 26%.
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The University Hospital located in Saint Pierre is the 43rd out of the 50 best hospitals in France.
Three great projects stand out. The land use planning of the sector of Pierrefonds is, as we saw it, of regional interest. At the East of Terre Sainte, the Urban Development Zone of the Indian Ocean will welcome important equipments (a receiving station of satellite images). However since 2002, it is the very “core area of the city” which had been part of an UrbanRenewal Project : between La Rivière d’Abord and Ravine Blanche, 5700 inhabitants live over 153 ha. The downtown revitalization will lead to a densifying of its population attracting more inhabitants, creating facilities in the city resting on its initial framework, and its sea front, strengthening its economic attractiveness (trades, amenities …), reinforcing its identity and improving its infrastructures. Between now and 2011, it is expected to rise from 6000 up to 11000 inhabitants. The main commercial artery of Les Bons Enfants street was rehabilitated, the harbor as well as the beach gardens were well-designed . The main projects concern the covered market hall which should become a food hall by keeping its Baltard style; the URBAN DEVELOPMENT ZONE of Le Mail with a 13 meter wide street between the market hall and La Rivière d’Abord, with about fifteen businesses including
Virgin Megastore; a city
administrative center replacing the post office and the police station located in Les Bons Enfants street ; a cultural park just down the City hall in the kervéguens’ Warehouses ; a multiplex named " Ciné Grand Sud " with 7 movie theatres on the sea front.
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Two other projects present an obvious regional interest. First, the land use planning of the sector of Pierrefonds, a project part of the City Planning Development Program. It comes in two parts. On the one hand, the URBAN DEVELOPMENT ZONE of PIERREFONDSVILLAGE, in the old sugar factory area, 70 ha in size, dedicated to the building of 800 living units, public amenities, tertiary activities and services. On the other hand, the URBAN DEVELOPMENT ZONE of PIERREFONDS-AÉRODROME, 87 ha in size, which will welcome industries, a waste recovery unit (methane gas collection ), a logistics base (LogistiSud, port sec), businesses, tertiary activities, hotels, a conference hall, a Multi-Modal station … The construction work began in 2013.
Saint Pierre Harbor, Le Piton Montvert in the far distance.
East of Terre Sainte, the URBAN DEVELOPMENT ZONE of the Indian Ocean welcomes equipments which interests go far beyond the horizon of the city and even Reunion Island. (Receiving Station Satellite Images - SEAS-OI …). It stretches out over 72 ha between the hospital and La Rivière d’Abord, in a zone with an ambossed landscape : 12 ha are already urbanized and 17 are occupied by gullies and coppices. We built 700 housing units, a business park, amenities (expansion of the University Technological Institute, day-nursery, school, the swimming pool, SDIS,...) and the Technopolitan Park -Z.IRST (Area dedicated to Innovative
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Skills, Scientific and Technical Researches ), the second technopole of Reunion Island focused on Health, Energy, Food-processing industry and The Environment.
Saint-Pierre, a regional hub Saint-Pierre is, unquestionably, the second city of Reunion Island. Not for its population: the municipality comes just after Saint-Denis and Saint-Paul, the urban Saint-Pierre is, unquestionably, the second city of Reunion Island. Not for its population: the municipality comes just after
Saint-Denis and Saint-Paul, the urban area itself being less
populated than that of Tampon. But, after Saint-Denis, it is in Saint-Pierre that we feel more like being in a city. Thanks to its economic weight, its amenities, its dynamism, Saint-Pierre is situated at the second place in the urban hierarchy of Reunion Island and constitutes a "balanced metropolis" with regard to Saint-Denis by being the regional capital of the South.
Villa Delisle Hotel SPA (fr.hotels.com)
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The pendular movements concerning Saint-Pierre. Being recognized as the second administrative center of the island, Saint-Pierre took advantage of the far distance with Saint-Denis, the capital of the island together with the great number of the Southern basin population to create diversified services being at the same time public and private. Saint-Pierre is set up as a sub-prefecture in 1964 and welcomes numerous state administrations, that are prefectural and regional administrations as well as socio-economic
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organisms set up in Saint-Denis. Education and Health are two sectors particularly well represented, with a branch of the University at Tampon and the most modern hospital in the whole Indian Ocean, that is, the Groupe Hospitalier Sud (The Hospital Group of the South). Since 1997, the headquater
of the administration of the French Southern and Antarctic
Territories is no more in Paris but is located in Saint Pierre. Wholesaling, distribution, its community-based services have nothing to envy to those of the other regions of Reunion Island. It is a regional hub together with a sector of job creators. This is the place, after SaintDenis, to have the largest number of strategic jobs pertaining to the high powered jobs necessary to run
the city. Concerning the number of job offers, Saint Pierre
is also one of the
municipalities biggest supplier, just after Saint-Denis. More than 40 % of the jobs in the South are concentrated there, which amounts to 12.4 % of jobs in Reunion Island, for 9.5 % of the population. It is the island’s most attractive sector of job-creating after Le Port, the job attraction rate there being 134.4 % (Le Port, 182.7 %; Saint-Denis, 125 %). This job-creating sector has significant impacts on its region: among the 33 186 people who worked there in 2012, 9384 did not live there. It was the inhabitants of the nearby municipalities which daily commuted to work in Saint-Pierre. Even if The all-city flow of commuters between Saint-Pierre and Le Tampon is proved to be the most important of Reunion Island, There are also some more (workers) who come from Saint-Louis, Saint Joseph and Petite Ile which turn car traffic into a daily challenging task. The western and northern entrances of the city are thus congested To finish, Saint-Pierre holds the second airport of the island, located at Pierrefonds, West of the city. It is a small military aerodrome which was opened to civilians in 1998, with Madagascar and Mauritius Island. The city had to improve the 1500 meter track and to build a terminal. In 2000 the track had been extended to 1850 meters for medium-haul planes such as Boeing 747 to be able to land. In 2002 the upgrading of the equipments lead to a new extent of the track up to 2100 meters and to strengthen all fire safety facilities.
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pierrefond Airport (www.randoreunion.fr) TABLE OF CONTENTS One of the best nature-resourced municipalities of Reunion Island
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A landscape with few extremes A windward climate Natural advantages A settlement and an enhancement determined by plantation agriculture Birth of a city and a neighbourhood Saint-Pierre, a showpiece of the plantation system A sugar cane crisis aggravated by the building of the harbour The population of Saint Pierre
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Population growth Population structure Population distribution The socio-professional composition A well-balanced economy
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General features
20
A modernized agricultural center
21
The second fishing center in Reunion Island
22
Its touristic assets
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Industrial and commercial dynamism
23
The agricultural revolution Successful industrialization The development of the services Saint Pierre : The town
24
The evolution of the city The city center The outlying districts / the outskirts Saint Pierre as a country
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The Western Districts
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The Eastern districts : Grands Bois and Ravine des Cafres ;
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Mont-Vert les hauts and Mont-Vert les bas Contrasted level of development Issues and opportunities to reach “a regional balance among the districts� 34 Social issues Land use planning Saint Pierre, a regional hub
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