Caen

Caen has a shrinking population, mostly due to high cost of housing in Caen. In particular families are leaving, who migrate to suburban areas, contributing to urban sprawl and congestion in the city. Caen has a stable economy with slightly shrinking population, mostly due to high cost of housing in Caen for families, who migrate to suburban areas, contributing to urban sprawl.

The city of Caen and especially its centre is quite compact and densely populated. The vacancy rate is rather low; there are few free sites to build on. Whenever a building becomes vacant in the city centre, private investors are quick to reuse it for housing, flats, offices and services purposes.

If a building does not present any specific architectural value, it often gets demolished in favour of a new construction. So there is not a problem of vacancies in general in Caen, but the challenge is to ensure that the re-development of buildings and sites through private investors are coherent with the City Council's policies. The redevelopment of sites and the reuse of buildings to encourage the return of families to the city centre and to intensify the economic and social development have a high priority on the local political agenda