Audomarois
On the Flanders side, it borders Blootland (Dunkirk) to the north, Houtland to the east, Pale of Calais to the north-west, and the Lys plain to the south-east.
[1] Pale of Calais and Blootland to the north, the Lys plain to the south, Inner Flanders or Houtland to the east, and the Licques plateau to the west delimit the Audomarois natural region.
The Audomarois marsh was originally a depression in Clairmarais, near Saint-Omer, and is thought to have been a buttonhole excavated in the Ypresian clay by block tectonics.
Numerous traces remain, including two imposing blockhouses (Coupole d'Helfaut and Blockhaus d'Éperlecques, now places of remembrance and culture).
[4] In the post-war period, factories were rapidly rebuilt in the Aa valley, and on the banks of the Canal de Noeufossé, an industry took off that would last until the end of the 20th century: the Verrerie-cristallerie d'Arques, which became Arc International, directly and indirectly employed up to 10,000 people in the Audomarois region, causing a spatial and landscape transformation of the Audomarois, with strong suburbanization, supported by earlyinter-community cooperation (from 1962) and marked industrialization (telephony, textiles, foundries, paper mills, etc.)
...) and the creation of numerous housing estates, industrial zones, ZUPs (Fort-Maillebois, Saint-Martin au Laert, Arques...) and roads throughout the Audomarois region.
These works improved access, but with few compensatory measures for the environment, aggravating the ecological fragmentation of landscapes, while since the 1980s in particular, the DRIRE and theWater Agency have been gradually pointing out some sources and after-effects of serious pollution (heavy metals in particular).
In the absence of public transport, the town is frequently clogged with car traffic, and shoppers head for the big supermarkets, well connected to the new road network.
The project is based on a "medium-sized town file", a "reference program", culture (two high-quality museums in Saint-Omer and a "Ville d'art et d'histoire" classification) and a "cœur de pays" operation, while continuing road development and creating a river port on the Canal de Noeufossé (at Arques), and bringing the TGV (TER-GV) to Saint-Omer.
The Audomarois region has few small local green spaces, but benefits from the nearby marshes and the Rihoult-Clairmarais national forest(not yet easily accessible by public transport).
Water has taken on greater ecological importance with the installation of urban and industrial wastewater treatment plants along the Aa, and with the creation of the river contract and later the SAGE de l'Audomarois.
[3] The Audomarois as a territory should not be confused with the Pays de Saint-Omer (larger and more recent, since it was officially created in 2004 by the voluntary grouping of 5 inter-municipal cooperation, i.e. 82 communes), which is the perimeter of a SCOT.
The Audomarois is France's leading market-garden area, with the cultivation of cauliflower, chicory, Tilques carrots, potatoes, zucchinis, aromatic plants, apples, pears, plums, red fruits.
