Paris toward the north-east, seen from the Eiffel-tower. The high-rise area in the background is the business centre La Défence. An important future issue here is to what extent Paris will have more of this. In the foreground is the Palais de Chaillot, the current home of Le Grand Pari(s) exhibition. The green area in the middle is the Bois de Boulogne. All photos: Odd Iglebaek
In terms of physical planning the Paris region is probably 'hotter' than any other European metropolitan area at the moment. On the one hand the regional authorities are currently presenting their visions based on four years of intensive study, political debate and public hearings.
On the other hand the French head of state, President Nicolas Sarkozy, has commissioned ten private firms to present their views of the future of the French capital-region. Each has worked independently of the regional planning authorities while being paid 200 000 euros for their contributions. A special minister in charge of the Development of the Capital Region has also proposed a new scheme, including a new 130 km long underground rail line around Paris.
Paris-monumentalism
Emperors or Presidents and Grand Architecture or 'Urbanism' schemes have long gone hand-in-hand in the French capital. Examples here include L'Arc de Triomphe (Napoleon), Le Grand Arc La Défense (François Mitterrand) and the Musée du Quai Branly (Jacques Chirac). Nicolas Sarkozy undoubtedly wants to join this club, but he may still be uncertain about how exactly to do it, or as he stated at the opening of Le Grand Pari(s) exhibition: "We need to rethink the city. To look further and deeper [...] that is the spirit of the consultation that I wish to launch..."
Le Grand Pari(s) is a very visual exhibition. A number of the contributions are presented by huge banners. One highlights a proposal to build a wall of skyscrapers all along Paris' 40 km long ring-road. In the centre of the city they have placed a 1000 metre high tower structure called the Super Sorbonne. In comparison the Eiffel-tower is 324 metres high. It is the office of Winy Maas and the MVRDV team that have launched this contribution.
As far as the general public are concerned most attention has focused on the proposal by the office of Antoine Grumbach. They suggest merging the coastal town of Le Havre with the Ile-de-France region around Paris into a single region, and in so doing provide the French capital with a Channel harbour. The popularity of this proposal is based not least upon a very detailed, aerial night-satellite image where people can line up underneath the large montage to find their own neighbourhood.
Appreciate debate
- What we appreciate about Sarkozy's initiative is that he has generated a sufficient level public interest to ensure that a healthy discussion can now take place in respect of the future planning of the Paris-region. We also hope that there will be ample opportunity to study the implications of the ten visions compared with the Region's own proposals, comments Vincent Fouchier.
Fouchier is a Deputy General Manager at the Institut d'Aménagement et d'Urbanisme d'Ile-de-France (IAU-îdF). This is a large institution, a 200-person multidisciplinary strong planning agency, and an associated body of the Regional Council of the Île-de-France – a region with 11.5 million inhabitants. He was also part of the scientific committee promoting the Le Grande Pari(s) exhibition.
Socialists or Conservatives?
The Chairman of the Board of the IAU is also the Chairman of the Regional Council, at present Jean-Paul Huchon, representing the Socialist party. President Nicolas Sakorzy on the other hand is a member of the Conservative party. Next year there is the election for a new Regional Council in the Île-de-France. It however remains an open question as to who will win the election.
1300 official stakeholders
The Île-de-France claims historical roots back to the 5th century. Formally the region was established as a legal entity in 1976. In planning terms it is a complicated and a highly democratic structure, since each mayor in all 1281 municipalities of the region has decisive powers. The remaining 20 arrondissements constitute the centre of the capital city itself. In the regional planning context they count as one unit, the municipality of Paris. The same goes for the eight départements which the region is divided into.
Fouchier has overall responsibility at the IAU to develop the new Île-de-France regional masterplan: - What we are talking about is not only the need to develop a set of ideas and a process, but first and foremost to end up with a legal document outlining the most important guidelines for the future development of the region, he underlines.
The last time a masterplan was made for the Île-de-France was in 1994. That plan was produced and adopted by the state authorities. Since then legislation has changed and this time it is the regional authorities - through the regional administration and the IAU – that have actually done the planning work. – The national authorities must still however approve the regional masterplan, before it gains statuary status, he explains.
Stop sprawl
The 1994-plan was very much a plan of its time. The model was to extend the city through the expansion of the road-system. – Thus encouraging a significant amount of urban-rural sprawl. One example of this is that the urban character of the region grew by, on average, nearly 2000 hectares annually over the period 1982-2003 (the region covers a total of 12 012 km2), notes Fouchier.
Travelling across the region this is reflected in hundreds of thousands of plots of land, say 400-500 m2 with a small villa on the site. Shopping centres here and there and almost all transport conducted by private car.
- Our proposal in the new plan is two-fold: Firstly, we should build very little on 'virgin' land and only in designated areas, particularly in Sénart and Val d'Europe. Secondly density should aim for at least 35 housing-units per hectare in all built-up areas. That is equivalent to a utility rate (floor-area/land-area) of 0.3 to 0.4.
Intensive densification
- For the existing suburbs, old and new towns and some villages our proposal is for intensive densification, with some places at the level of central Paris, which usually has a utility-rate of 2.5 to 3.0 and in some places up to 5.0. A regional land agency has also been created, to buy derelict industrial sites with a view to gaining more control over land-use, Fouchier continues.
During the regime of Charles de Gaulle in the 1960s five new towns, namely, Cergy-Pontoise, St. Quentin en Yvelines, Marne la Vallée, Sénart and Évry provided the central element in the growth of the Paris region. They will soon however all lose their special planning status.
Characteristic of these new towns are the many high density developments clustered around a railway station linked to the centre of Paris. The idea here was to facilitate commuting to-and-from the city centre for work and study. Unemployment however is often quite high.
New railways
- A very important element in our new plans is to generate two new circular rail lines, (one rather close to Paris: called 'Arc Express'), which will link the suburbs together, without entering Paris thus enlarging the network. In this way it is hoped to reduce traffic to-and-from the centre of Paris. Secondly, this will increase the possibility to commute to work while linking the major employment centres. It will also generate urban densification around the stations. Our estimate is that this will cost 15 to 18 billion euros.
- One can also say that the Region's transport-proposal is less expensive compared to 'grand8' the new 130 km long underground railway-system, suggested by the President Nicolas Sarkozy. This would cost 35 billion and will also connect the suburbs, but much further from the centre of Paris (20 to 25 km). It is however as yet unclear whether the 'grand8' project can be financed, since the state alone cannot raise such amounts of money, says Fouchier.
Modest population and many new homes
- The regional masterplan of 1965 predicted a growth in population reaching 14 million in the Île-de-France by 2000. Even today we are approximately 2.5 millions short of this figure. We are very careful about population growth and predict only reaching 12.5 million by 2030 - an annual growth of 0.7 %, he continues.
- On average the population of the region is predicted to grow by 50 000 persons annually. Still you propose building 60 000 new homes every year?
- One reason for this is that the construction of new homes has been very low in recent years, in fact down to only 35 000 in 2003. Therefore we have a lot of catching up to do. The demand for housing will also significantly increase because of the ongoing reduction taking place in average family size, due to population ageing and changes in the French way of life: this then is the main source of new housing need.
- Sakorzy says it should be 70 000 new homes each year?
- All the experts, even those from the state, estimate the need to be around 60 000 units per year, which is already a really high objective, but the reason why President Sarkozy now wants to reach 70 000 is probably a simple matter of political ambition, concludes Fouchier.
Debate over the future of the Paris-region will undoubtedly continue. What happens with planning in the Île-de-France will also provide inspiration and guidance for many other parts of the world. And not to exaggerate the conflict; all the actors in the area seem to agree on one thing, and that is that the Île-de-France should become one of the leading "Eco-Regions" in the world. At least, this is the impression they have given so far.
By Odd Iglebaek, Editor