Paris, one of the most iconic cities in the world, is currently undergoing enormous scrutiny from prominent architects the world wide, who were charged one year ago by French president Nicolas Sarkozy to come up with a new blueprint for Paris. The results, detailed in an excellent article in the New York Times Magazine, are in and they range from the modest and practical (adding parks and new train stations) to the boldly visionary (moving the Presidential palace to the outskirts of the city).
Sarkozy deserves some credit here; while one never knows whether grand plans like these will ever be realized, it’s rare for the leader of a nation to go even this far in completely re-imagining a city. His stated goal is for Paris to be the first city to conform to the Kyoto Protocol’s environmental goals.
Now don’t worry: it seems unlikely that Paris’ Haussman-era architecture and old beauty will be torn down to make room for 21st century green buildings. I mean, these are the French, some of the world’s most steadfast guardians of aesthetics and history. What will be removed, however, are the dismal housing projects that have grown up steadily around the city’s outskirts. Many of the ten architecture teams focus on the projects specifically, with schemes such as adding more greenspace, or connecting these neighborhoods to the center of the city with new, efficient public transportation.
Paris, along with Bogota and, very recently, New York, is stepping forward to address the question “What does it mean to be a city in the 21st century?” An especially important question given that within the next year, more people will live in cities than in rural areas for the first time in human history. It’s great to hear that Paris, the city of cities, is leading the way.
Hungry for more? Here’s another NYT article, and one from ABC.
