News: Dutch firm OMA is to masterplan a new urban development south of Bordeaux based around the extension of the local tram system.

OMA's design will regenerate the neighbourhoods of Bègles and Villenave d'Orno as the new line introduces a connection to Bordeaux's central station.

"We took the tramway extension as an opportunity to rebuild this part of the city," said OMA associate and project leader Clement Blanchet, who has proposed moving the line back from the main thoroughfare.

"By shifting the tramline from its previously planned location, we create potential for new types of housing and commercial development," he said.

The firm will work on the public space alongside the line over the next five years in collaboration with landscape architect Coloco.

OMA has also been working on a masterplan for 50,000 new housing units in Bordeaux, while other projects by the firm currently underway in France include the École Centrale school of engineering in Saclay, near Paris – see all architecture by OMA.

Last year we filmed a series of movies with OMA's Reinier de Graaf looking at "masterpieces by bureaucrats", while a previous trio of Dezeen movies features the firm's head Rem Koolhaas discussing the OMA exhibition at the Barbican in 2011.

Elsewhere in Bordeaux, work started this week on a football stadium by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, while French designer Philippe Starck recently unveiled a prototype bicycle designed for a free cycle scheme in the city – see all projects in Bordeaux.

Images are by OMA.