Every design for Aulnay-Sous-Bois

Green spaces are what Aulnay-sous-Bois does best: it is a town of four flowers in the national towns-in-bloom contest, with parks scattered from end to end and a share of the vast Parc départemental du Sausset, which it shares with Villepinte. It lies on the Plaine de France in the north-eastern suburbs of Paris, stretched long and narrow from north to south, close to Charles de Gaulle Airport.

What makes Aulnay unique is how clearly its districts tell its story. In the north rise the big housing estates, among them the Rose des Vents, along with the industrial zones and the great parks. At the centre, the Vieux Pays keeps the Church of Saint-Sulpice from the Middle Ages and an old farm. To the south, across the railway line, quieter residential streets run down to the Canal de l'Ourcq. Between them sit smaller gardens that locals use every day: the Parc Dumont, the Parc Faure, the Parc Bigottini and the Parc Gainville, also called the parc des Cygnes, where the demeure Gainville is the oldest house in town.

From the belvedere of the Parc Robert-Ballanger, on a clear day, the Eiffel Tower and the Sacré-Cœur appear on the horizon, tiny and unmistakable.