Presented on August 6 by the Nice metropolis, the works on the Promenade du Paillon are progressing. Here’s a recap of the work being done on the eight hectares of land and greenery.
Visited this Wednesday, August 6, the Promenade du Paillon site is making good progress. The 8 hectares of land will be accessible to the public starting Saturday, October 18, 2025, during the All Saints’ holidays. “The technology implemented for water recycling allows the 20 hectares and 5,000 trees to be self-sufficient without resorting to natural resources. Currently, you’re walking on water tanks as well as on the earth,” says Christian Estrosi. According to our information, nearly 600 m³ of reserve water can be stored in the underground tanks.
The area presented during the visit, near 2 Avenue Galliéni, is dematerialized, and the earth and tanks have been installed. These tanks allow for rainwater recovery and operate almost autonomously, based on the water needs of the entire area. “Imagine if one day there’s an order requiring a water cut to focus on taps and not watering public spaces, then the area would be completely self-sufficient,” defends the mayor
According to estimates by Emmanuel Petiot, deputy general manager of Major Projects and Transport, the Promenade du Paillon Season 2 covers an area of ten hectares. “The total surface area for phases 1 and 2 is about twenty hectares. This is an extremely important place for an urban green space,” adds Emmanuel Petiot. According to him, the uniqueness of this place is that it’s not a garden or a square, but an urban forest. In this location, 250 varieties of tree species have been planted. Bamboo, cacti, and evergreen trees will be located here within one to two months. These have not been installed by chance. According to the city hall, these varieties have been or will be installed to best adapt to the Mediterranean environment.
Facing the museum of modern and contemporary art, and surrounded by earth, the trees are arranged with metal partitions so they can take root. Subsequently, a wooden floor is laid to allow everyone to move between the plantations and vice versa on the other side, to create this parallelism.
The city aims to enhance attractiveness through greenery
“Some playful spaces with quality games or activities, such as ‘the nugget,’ a collection of rocks for contemplating the horizon, are still under construction,” adds the deputy general director of Major Projects. According to the municipality, the downtown equipment aims to reduce the temperature and noise around. According to evaluations from the Nice University Hospital Center (CHU) and the air quality observatory in the South Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region (AtmoSud), the greenery provides a refreshing sensation. These green spaces show a decrease of 5 °C in ambient temperature, 10 °C in perception, and 20 °C in ground temperature.
“The vegetation has a cooling role through evapotranspiration (the amount of water that evaporates through the soil, ed.) and shading, which additionally brings health benefits to the population, including protection against ultraviolet (UV) radiation, reduction of heat-related stress, and availability of places for physical activities,” according to a report by AtmoSud from January 2022. Again, according to a study by the observatory conducted in 2019, Nice was among the most polluted municipalities in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA) region. Automobiles and other land vehicles represented 37% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, followed by the residential sector at 20%, air transport at 15%, and the tertiary sector at 12%. According to the Horizon mayor, these cool zones allow for a reduction of 125 tons of CO2 emissions per year. A good start!
