PARIS - Northwestern outer suburbs, Cergy

[Minato Ku]

A long walk in the New Town of Cergy in summer 2020.
From Cergy Saint Christophe to Cergy Prefecture.

Cergy is part of Cergy Pontoise area. It's one of the five New Towns planned in the 1960 to cater the growth of Paris. The idea was to create new major centers in periphery to house new inhabitants and ease the congestion of Paris.
Cergy Prefecture was the New Town for the northwest of Paris.
Construction began in the 1970s, at this time Cergy was just a tiny rural village with 2,500 inhabitants.

Those new towns were a mixed success. They never never fully achieved the goal to act as cities almost independent of Paris.
While they became important suburban hubs, they're also bedroom communities for commuters.

1.The trip begin at Cergy-Saint-Christophe station on the RER A and Suburban train L service to Paris Saint-Lazare terminal.
The station opened in 1985 and had 7.5 million passengers in 2019

Gare de Cergy Saint-Christophe, RER A, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
2.

Gare de Cergy Saint-Christophe, RER A, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
3

Place de l'Horloge, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
4. Place de l'Horloge with its massive clock (clock = horloge) which defines the train station

Place de l'Horloge, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
5. The New Town of Cergy is divided in several commercial centers around the train stations.
This part of Cergy was built during the 1980s. Rejecting the modernist ideas from the previous decades.

Place de l'Horloge, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
6.

Rue de l'Abondance, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
7.

Place du Marché, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
8.

Place du Marché, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
9.

Avenue de Mondétour, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
10. We go toward the Belvedere Tower of the Major Axis.
You can notice the Postmodern architecture by the architect Ricardo Bofill.
After

Rue de l'Abondance, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
11. Belvedere Tower of the Major Axis.

Place des Colonnes Hubert Renaud, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
12.

Place des Colonnes Hubert Renaud, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
13. Axe Majeur is the work of artist Dani Karavan. It's a monumental artwork with several elements covering a distance of 3.2km (2 miles) inside a big park.

Axe Majeur, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
14.

Axe Majeur, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
15. Twelve Columns

Les 12 colonnes, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
16.

Axe Majeur, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
17. A view on La Défense business district located 22km away (13.5 miles).

Les Etangs de Cergy, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
18. A view on Cergy Préfecture district, the main center of Cergy

Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
19.

Pont Rouge, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
20. We left the park to take the main historic road that served the area before development of the new town toward the old areas of Cergy.

Rue de Vauréal, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
21.

Rue de Vauréal, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
22.

Rue de Vauréal, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
23. This is what was Cergy before the construction of the New Town. A quiet tiny rural village.

Rue de Vauréal, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
24.

Rue de Vauréal, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
25.

Rue de Vauréal, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
26.

Rue Nationale, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
27. I don't know if there were shops in this village in the past but nowadays, it's a bedroom community with no activities. I could count on my hand the number of pedestrians I've seen there.

Rue Nationale, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
28.

Rue du Repos, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
29. The former town hall of Cergy

Place de la Liberation, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
30. After the old village, a newer development from the 1990s 2000s, Port Cergy.
Port Cergy is a marina along the Oise river.

Rue de Diablotin, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
31.

Rue de Diablotin, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
32.

Place du Grand Hunier, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
33.

Quai de la Capitainerie, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
34.

Quai de la Tourelle, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
35. A marina surrounded by restaurants.

Quai de la Tourelle, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
36.

Avenue Jean Bart, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
37.

Boulevard du Port, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
38.

Boulevard du Port, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
39.

Boulevard du Port, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
40.

Avenue du N, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
41.

Boulevard du Port, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
42.

La Croix Petit Mauve, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
43. Edge of Cergy Prefecture district, the main area of Cergy.

Boulevard du Port, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
44. The area is planned on separation of pedestrian and cars traffic. This explains the numerous footbriges on its edge.

Avenue des 3 Fontaines, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
45. Like in La Defense, it's built arong a concrete slab for pedestrian.
Car traffic and parking being located under it.

Parvis de la Prefecture, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
46.

Place des Arts, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
47.

Place de la Fontaine, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
48. The main shopping street with a big enclosed shopping mall at its end.
Actually most of the shopping in Cergy happens inside the mall.

Rue des Galeries, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
49.

Rue des Galeries, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
50.

Square Columbia, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
51.

Square Columbia, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
52. The bus terminal of Cergy Préfecture station

Boulevard de l'Oise, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
53.

Boulevard de l'Oise, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
54. Entrance of Cergy Prefecture station

Gare de Cergy Prefecture, RER A by Minato ku, sur Flickr
55. Cergy Prefecture station is underground.
It opened in 1979. It had 12 million passengers in 2019, the busiest in Cergy.

Gare de Cergy Prefecture, RER A by Minato ku, sur Flickr

This trip is not plainly representative of Cergy because I didn't really venture out in residential area outside the main centers and the old core.
If I did you would have seen more areas like this.

Cergy - Les Essarts by Minato ku, sur Flickr

I didn't venture at Cergy-le-Haut, the third train station in Cergy.
The station opened in 1994 and the area is typical of urban development from the end of the 90s until today in France.

Cergy-le-Haut by Minato ku, sur Flickr

[Crawford]

Interesting stuff, thanks! Love these photothreads of the non-touristy, everyday France.

[xzmattzx]

Nice pictures! I like that postmodern stuff near the train station. Port Cergy also looks pretty nice for modern suburban stuff! And I always love seeing the historic core of a suburbanized area.

[sopas ej]

Great photos! Very interesting!

Originally Posted by Crawford

Interesting stuff, thanks! Love these photothreads of the non-touristy, everyday France.

Me too! It's like, there are only so many Eiffel Tower pictures you can look at, right?

[begratto]

I spent a lot of time in 1994 in Cergy, as I had friends who studied at ESSEC (I was at Reims SupdeCo at the time); this thread brings back good memories. Lots of partying happened nearby...

The area seems to look better than it did back then - getting out of the Cergy-Préfecture RER station at night and having to cross the giant concrete slabs towards the campus and student residences didn't always feel safe, so we tried to stay in group.

I didn't have opportunities to visit anything outside of the ESSEC <> Centre commercial Les 3 Fontaines axis. Glad you gave me the opportunity to see what else there was in the area!

Thanks for posting this

[Minato Ku]

Thank you everybody.

Cergy has improved since the 1980s 1990s even if I agree that its concrete slabs with its walkways and corridors can feel unsafe especially at night.

There is a renovation scheme underway for Cergy Prefecture district.

• Video Link

The RER station is under renovation
3 Fontaines shopping mall has been renovated and extended in 2021.

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Great photos! Very interesting!
It's like, there are only so many Eiffel Tower pictures you can look at, right?

Funny note : you can see the Eiffel tower in this thread. Picture 17, the Eiffel tower is behind a skyscraper, it's the tallest structure.

[EastSideHBG]

Beautiful!

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by Minato Ku

Funny note : you can see the Eiffel tower in this thread. Picture 17, the Eiffel tower is behind a skyscraper, it's the tallest structure.

Ah! A nice subtle way of somehow working it in to the photos, hehe!

[xzmattzx]

I forgot to mention that pictures 3, 4, 6, and 7 remind me of London. 43, 51, and 52 remind me of Montreal.

[geomorph]

Originally Posted by Minato Ku

4. Place de l'Horloge with its massive clock (clock = horloge) which defines the train station

Place de l'Horloge, Cergy by Minato ku, sur Flickr

I like this gateway feature, very memorable.