Parc Masset: it’s up to the population to have their say!

The canton, already very dense in its building zone, continues its urbanization at a rapid pace. In the City of Geneva, the site of the former Vernets barracks at PAV reveals its first, very massive, buildings. In the area of ​​the Eaux-Vives station – avenue de l’Amandolier, buildings are rising and definitively transforming a landscape formerly dominated by plants. Accelerated densification raises the question of new public spaces, a corollary of urbanization, without which we will go crazy. At the same time, global warming and the resulting scorching summers, which will become recurrent, are increasing the need for freshness and rejuvenation.

Of course, large parks fulfill this function, but the City of Geneva lives on its past in terms of parks, most of which were the subject of donations or acquisitions more than a century ago. Apart from the Hentsch park of 3.5 hectares in Châtelaine offered to the City by the eponymous banker in 2016, and that of the Eaux-Vives beach of 4 ha with its aquatic biotope, created by the Canton in 2019, nothing much nothing has been done since. An emblematic project launched more than eight years ago by Forum Jonction, the future Pointe de la Jonction park is still not under construction, even though its landowners/decision makers are Ms. Perler and Mr. Hodgers…

The redevelopment of the quays bordering the harbor at Eaux-Vives and Les Pâquis represents a unique opportunity to offer the population new, finally welcoming public spaces, equipped with infrastructure (refreshments, changing rooms, toilets) conducive to access to the water, which would advantageously extend existing parks. The centrist magistrate Barazzone launched a project competition in 2017, which presented interesting avenues. To date, only the Quai Wilson sector has been the subject of a follow-up in the form of a new competition awarded in 2023. Unfortunately, the winning project selected by the City of Geneva is unrealizable, particularly insofar as it concrete the bottom of the lake!

All of these considerations would argue for the acquisition by the City of Geneva of what remains of the Masset countryside and its 18th century mansion. But this forgets that the municipal authorities have no concrete project to repurpose the prestigious residence, which is very constrained by heritage protection. The rest of the estate can hardly be developed into a park given the topography, with the exception of the flat area bordering Avenue d’Aïre.

Beyond that, this acquisition constitutes a welcome counter-fire to the meager record of the Green magistrates of the City, especially since the recent popular refusal of the Mont-Blanc footbridge. In a context as rushed, vague and expensive, we are still talking about 22 million francs while the City of Geneva plans budgets in the red for the next eight years, its population must be able to decide democratically!

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