With 6800 accomodations and services welcoming the public, the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris functions like a small town. For several years now, it has been opting for sustainable management of its landscaped areas to help reduce the heat island effect and encourage biodiversity.
Within the framework of its development project, Cité 2025, it has requalified its green spaces to enhance its landscape structure and to increase its uses. For more than 10 years, the gardeners have adopted a reasoned approach to maintaining the park, taking into account the characteristics, usage and visitor numbers for each space. The green waste is recycled and mulching and mechanical weeding have become widespread. No pesticides have been used since 2009.
The Cité internationale’s park offers a rich natural heritage, which is vital for the habitat, food and reproduction of many species. It has 3045 trees from 235 species. Certain trees reflect the campus’s international dimension: Lebanese cypress, white pines from the Temple of the Sky in Beijing… As a part of its development project, Cité 2025, the Cité internationale’s park was requalified and enriched with new plantations, notably the redevelopment of its forest feel in the east and the groves to the west of the grand lawn. From 2017 to 2020, the range of vegetation was enriched with the planting of 1700 trees, 1500 of which were with the support of the city of Paris.
The Cité internationale’s park constitutes a large wooded area that is conducive to the cohabitation of numerous birds. There are 52 species of birds, representing more than 25% of the species known to Paris. Of these 52 observed species of birds, 32 nest on the estate, 22 of which are nationally protected. 3 protected species of bat have also been observed in the park including the Whiskered Bat. In 2020, a connected birdhouse was installed by the Cité Wazo association near the Collège d’Espagne.
Six hotels were installed in the park thanks to the Fondation Gecina. Every compartment produces different living conditions, which facilitate the survival and reproduction of pollinating insects that all contribute to the augmentation of the park’s ecological quality.
Thanks to the Fondation Engie, the Cité internationale created 4 rain gardens in the park. These rainwater reservoirs limit flooding and help to enrich the habitat mosaic. As wetlands, they are particularly favourable to biodiversity.
The Heritage Center, the centre for promoting the Cité internationale’s heritage, offers guided tours to the public. One of them “An ecological park” allows them to discover the Cité internationale’s landscaped park.
Living in a sustainable world is precondition of the sense that the Cité internationale wishes to make of the world. This is why the Cité internationale enables the young talents it hosts, who are tomorrow’s decision-makers, to be at the forefront of the fight against climate change. It helps to raise awareness of climate issues. Thanks to the concrete actions it carries out on campus, it acts for the ecological transition and reduces its carbon footprint.