The city of Tours, the principal town in the Loire valley, famous for its cultural and natural heritage, was the chosen venue for the 5th European Urban Summer School, focusing on the contradictions between heritage conservation and urban sustainability. In our group assignment we were asked to research a particular site in the city centre: the area comprising the upper part of the centre’s main artery, the Rue Nationale, the inner quarters to the west and east, and the adjacent Place Anatole France (see Figure 1), together forming the interface between the city, the river and its people. The study site has changed significantly over the past hundred years. In the 18th century, King Louis XV commissioned the creation of the Rue Nationale, forming a northsouth connection cutting through the city of Tours as part of the road from Paris to Spain.