The town of Nice, on the south coast of France, is entirely hemmed in by mountain ranges. The Plaine du Var, lying to the west beyond the range of hills, was identified as an obvious development site. Contained by the Var to the west, the Plaine extends northwards from Nice International Airport for 6 km.

The brief was to develop a 50-year strategy for the future expansion of Nice into the Var valley. The proposals include housing, offices, commerce, light industry, parks and schools (initially some 6.5 million square metres of development). The design aims to avoid the current piecemeal development by extending the green valleys into the plain, thereby establishing areas of dense urban development within a cohesive framework of parks and open spaces.