Editing Cherbourg (section)

===Urban fabric===
[[File:Cherbourg au 16e siecle.jpg|thumb|right|Plan of the fortress of Cherbourg by {{Interlanguage link|Jacques Gomboust|fr}}, 1657]]
[[File:Cherbourg-rue des fosses.jpg|thumb|right|The ''Rue des Fossés'', remnant of a street of medieval Cherbourg]]

Cherbourg originally developed on the left bank of the mouth of the {{Interlanguage link|Divette (river)|fr|3=Divette (fleuve)|lt=Divette}}, around the castle. Traces of the ancient fortress are rare in the modern city; the fortification was located in the area bounded by the ''Rue de la Marine'', ''Quai de Caligny'', the ''Foch'', ''Gambetta'', ''Albert-Mahieu'' and ''François-Lavieille'' streets, and ''La République'' and ''La Trinité'' squares. The city had five streets: ''Grande Rue'', ''Rue de la Trinité'' (today, Tour-Carrée), the ''Rue du Nouet'' (to the Blé), the ''Rue au Fourdray'' and ''Rue Onfroy'' (of trade), and a dozen boëls (alleys).<ref name=anecdotique>{{cite book|first=Raymond|last=Lefèvre|title=Histoire anecdotique de Cherbourg à l'intention de nos écoliers|language=fr|trans-title=Anecdotal history of Cherbourg for our school children|location=Cherbourg|publisher=Cherbourg-Éclair|year=1941}}</ref> These five medieval streets were transformed into pedestrian streets in the 1980s. Until the destruction of the city walls, the main road called ''rue de-devant-le-château'', was built on its west (east is bordered by ditches) with several houses with arcades, called ''soliers''. After the dismantling of the walls, inside which lived three-fifths of the population,<ref>{{cite book|first=Abbé|last=Le Roy|chapter=Le Vieux Cherbourg|language=fr|trans-chapter=The old Cherbourg|title=Mémoires de la {{Interlanguage link|Société nationale académique de Cherbourg|fr}}|volume=12|year=1875}}</ref> the city extended up to its natural boundaries at the end of the 17th century: the Divette in the east, and Chantereine stream in the west. During the 19th century, it extended to the neighbouring annexed territories of [[Tourlaville]] and [[Équeurdreville-Hainneville|Équeurdreville]]. Its rapid growth from the end of the 18th century was spoken of by Jean Fleury, in 1839, in that it ''"offers almost everywhere the appearance of a new town; the old streets occupy little space, and the others are generally large and airy, the fountains numerous [...]. Cherbourg has 10 squares, 59 streets, 12 cul-de-sacs and 5 passages."''<ref name=fleury1839-notions >{{cite book|first1=Jean|last1=Fleury|first2=Hippolyte|last2=Vallée|chapter=Notions générales sur la Ville et l’Arrondissement|language=fr|trans-chapter=General notions about the city and the borough|title=Cherbourg et ses environs : nouveau guide du voyageur à Cherbourg|location=Cherbourg|publisher=Impr. de Noblet|year=1839|pages=2–18}}</ref>

Damaged during all eras, rebuilt in piecemeal, the city has no architectural unity. Shale, extracted from the quarries of the agglomeration, is the traditional material of construction. With widespread coverage in the northern Cotentin, it is also used in Cherbourg for the walls in the city, apparent or often covered with a grayish or sometimes colourful coating. The frames are then Valognes stone (limestone), pink granite of Fermanville, or brick, and the underpinnings Armorican sandstone of the Roule and the Fauconniere. The expansion of the city from the 18th century contributed to the diversity of materials. The use of [[Caen stone]] and industrial brick was necessary under the Second Empire, while vernacular architecture disappeared gradually in these years in favour of a more homogeneous and Parisian style.<ref name=centreurbainancien >{{cite book|first=Bruno|last=Centorame|chapter=L’habitat ancien du centre urbain|language=fr|title=À la découverte de Cherbourg : guide historique et touristique sur la ville de Cherbourg, la Hague et le Val de Saire|trans-title=The discovery of Cherbourg: Historical and tourist guide on the city of Cherbourg, the Hague and the Val de Saire
|location=Cherbourg|publisher=ville de Cherbourg|year=1992}}</ref>

Cherbourg and its agglomeration urbanised around the ports and along the coast. With post-war reconstruction and the economic development of the [[Trente Glorieuses]], the city is experiencing a crisis of housing due to the demographic boom, having built on the last vacant land. Indeed, a 1954 report evaluated 1,000 inhabitant families living in slums and called for 1,500 housing units. Then out of land ''Cité du Casino'' in 1957 and the ''Cité Fougère'' in 1958, then in 1959 all of the ''Amont-Quentin'', ''Charcot-Spanel'' and ''Cité Chantereyne'' to accommodate the families of the engineers and officers of the Arsenal.<ref>{{cite book|title=Cherbourg en marche vers le futur|language=fr|trans-title=Cherbourg moving towards the future|first1=F.|last1=Patard|first2=J.|last2=Lavalley|publisher=La Presse de la Manche|date=5 March 2007}}</ref>

Port Chantereyne and the Mielles lands are reclaimed from the sea, the ''Place Divette'' and ''Boulevard Schuman'' are created at the site of the old fairground. However, at that time, the change mainly affected nearby villages that formed an agglomeration in less than forty years. Octeville, a dispersed habitat until the 18th century, and urbanised during the work of the port around a central street,<ref name="hist-oct" /> saw the [[housing estate]] of the Provinces settle on the heights of la Fauconniere and triple its population in 20 years. Several estates also emerging at Tourlaville, La Glacerie, Querquerville and Equeurdreville, amending the physiognomy of a suburb which densified.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cuc-cherbourg.fr/Pages/atlas_cuc/Images/cartos/donnees_generales/urbanisme/atlas_urbanisme_fondements_historiques_01.jpg|title=Plan des fondements historiques de l'agglomération cherbourgeoise|language=fr|trans-title=The historical foundations of the cherbourgeoise agglomeration plan|first=François|last=Brun|work=Communauté urbaine de Cherbourg|date=June 1999|access-date=7 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923211735/http://www.cuc-cherbourg.fr/Pages/atlas_cuc/Images/cartos/donnees_generales/urbanisme/atlas_urbanisme_fondements_historiques_01.jpg|archive-date=23 September 2015|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> This urbanisation resulted in the dilution of the geographic and sociological boundaries of the agglomeration resulting in the creation in 1970 of the {{Interlanguage link|Communauté urbaine de Cherbourg|fr|3=Communauté urbaine de Cherbourg|lt=urban community}} until the merger of Cherbourg and Octeville in 2000.

[[File:Les-Provinces.jpg|thumb|right|The Amont Quentin and the Provinces, born in the 1960s and 1970s, currently under renovation.]]

Following this merger, a plan of urban renewal named "Between Land and Sea" was launched in 2002 on the quarters of Bassins, of the Amont-Quentin and the Provinces to homogenise the territory of the newly alamgamated city.<ref name="manoeuvres">{{cite web|url=http://www.lepoint.fr/actualites/les-grandes-manoeuvres/1037/0/115197|title=Cherbourg - urbanisme - Les grandes manœuvres|language=fr|trans-title=Cherbourg - planning - major manoeuvres|work=Le Point|date=24 November 2005|access-date=14 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519140245/http://www.lepoint.fr/actualites/les-grandes-manoeuvres/1037/0/115197|archive-date=19 May 2011|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The Bassins quarter, released by the channelling of the Divette and the filling of the retaining channel, is expected to profoundly transform the commercial landscape of the city, carried by the construction of a new shopping centre and the renovation of downtown. On the heights, seven HLM tower blocks are intended for demolition to improve social housing. A 3-star hotel and the relocation of the casino is also planned.<ref>{{cite web|first1=Thierry|last1=Dubillot|url=http://www.cherbourg.maville.com/Rentree-la-renovation-commerciale-au-menu-/re/actudet/actu_loc-704475------_actu.html|title=Rentrée : la rénovation commerciale au menu|language=fr|trans-title=Re-entry: the commercial renovation on the menu|date=16 September 2008|access-date=7 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080922165220/http://www.cherbourg.maville.com/Rentree-la-renovation-commerciale-au-menu-/re/actudet/actu_loc-704475------_actu.html|archive-date=22 September 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> At ''Avenue Carnot'', the former Grouard warehouses must leave room for parking and a place through from the wharf from the ''Quai de l'Entrepôt'' to the Pasteur Hospital, to 180 dwellings by Presqu'île habitat and ADIM (Vinci company) then 100 extra in a second round of development.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ouest-france.fr/avenue-carnot-esquisse-dun-nouveau-quartier-534563|title=Avenue Carnot: esquisse d'un nouveau quartier|language=fr|trans-title=Avenue Carnot: sketch of a new neighbourhood|work=Ouest-France|date=18 February 2010}}</ref>

The administrative quarters are:

*Downtown, historic heart of Cherbourg, with the inner city and the districts of La Polle and the Vœu, dating from the 19th century.
*The Val-de-Saire, annexed in 1811, beyond the Divette and swing-bridge.
*Sud-est, corresponding to the districts of du Roule and Maupas, traditionally for workers.
*The Amont Quentin-Provinces, on the heights of the city, built from the late 1950s (essentially HLM tower blocks).
*Octeville-Bourg, from both sides of the Salengro and Barbusse streets.
*Ouest, western part of the former municipality of Octeville.

Since 1996, Cherbourg-Octeville is covered by a [[sensitive urban zone]] on the expanded area of the Provinces.