French President Nicolas Sarkozy invited 10 architects and their firms to create a new grand design for Paris, Le Grand Paris. The most visited city in the world, the challenge is not necessarily to reshape the current city, but to integrate it with the outskirts and suburbs. The 2 million residents of the city are surrounded by at least another 6 million outside of its borders and within a short distance.
Richard Rogers, the London-based co-designer of the Pompidou centre, observed of the city: “I know no other big city where the heart is so detached from its arms and legs.”
The chosen architects recently unveiled their preliminary sketches and own visions for the new Paris plan. Among these are some interesting ideas. Antoine Grumbach has proposed building Greater Paris along the Seine all the way into the harbour at Le Havre. Italians Bernardo Secchi and Paola Vigano laid out the city with the waterways as new transportation routes.
Yves Liot has expressed his desire to create 20 sustainable towns of some 500,000 residents around the Paris area. Additionally, he would double the forest space and enable city residents to cultivate their own fruits and vegetables.
Rogers and his team at the London School of Economics proposed uniting communities by covering up railway lines with huge green spaces and networks above them. The city’s commuter lines and roads would be re-designed to reduce residents’ travel times to a maximum of 30 minutes per day.
As these plans are refined and discussed, more interest in Le Grand Paris will come.
Useful Resources
