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That's because Paris is stuck in the 19th century with its Haussmannian style. Usually a city lives and changes to adapt itself to its times, and Paris was no
by eloisant 8y ago
That's because Paris is stuck in the 19th century with its Haussmannian style.
Usually a city lives and changes to adapt itself to its times, and Paris was no exception... Until the 19th century.
Now the local government wants to "preserve" it for the joy of tourists, to the detriments of locals. Housing is scarce causing high prices. Buildings are old and inconvenients.
Paris is a museum-city. Designed for tourists.
- keiferski 8y agoYeah, I can’t agree, sorry. I’m not sure if you’ve lived in Paris or not, but these “it’s a tourist city” comments almost always come from people that haven’t lived there. There are dozens of incredible neighborhoods in Paris that have little-to-no tourist presence. It’s akin to saying NYC is a tourist city because Times Square is a mess.
- csomar 8y agoAre you talking about Paris propre or "les banlieux"? I can agree if you extend Paris to the "banlieux" that there is definitively good voisinage but not for Paris propre. Unless you are willing to pay top dollars to stay in les Champs-Elysses. (which I don't find that good either).
- keiferski 8y agoBelville, Bastille, and most of the 13e are all within the périphérique and are all great places to live and have very little overt tourism.
- csomar 8y agoBut what are the prices for rent/purchase? I can see it has less metro stations but still well connected.
- keiferski 8y agoIt’s Paris, so of course it’s not going to be cheap. IIRC in Belville my studio was about 1,000€ per month, which compared to virtually any western megacity (London, NYC, SF, etc.) is a great deal. Of course, the place was tiny, but that’s Paris in general.
- _eLRIC 8y agoInner Paris is 20 "arrondissements". Tourists are far less visible as soon as you're going to outer arrondissements, I.e. 13th, 14th, 18th, 19th and 20th (except for Père Lachaise cemetery) Keep in mind that Paris, without near suburbs ("proche banlieue") is only 105 km² and as written, has been mostly rebuild by Haussmann (following Napoleon III orders) in the late 18XX, when I.e. London is something like 1500 km² ... so comparison may be difficult
- ovi256 8y agoUnfortunately, the rules meant to preserve the Haussmanian parts beloved by tourists are applied uniformly throughout the city, even in those neighborhoods without tourists which you mention. There were deviations from the rules throughout the ages, especially on the left bank with the newer, taller towers (Place d'Italie, Montparnasse, Berges de Seine). But these deviations were always one off, pushed through by an ambitious leader that burned off a lot of political capital.
- realusername 8y agoTo build taller buildings, you would need much wider streets than what you have now, unless you want half of the city to be in a permanent shadow. This would not solve the housing issue. The density of Paris is close to the maximum possible already.
- tormeh 8y agoWhat's the point of building taller if you just increase the street width so total livable area per ground area is the same? That's nonsensical. Of course people will have to live with shadow. It's the only way to increase density (unless you want people to live in basements).
- realusername 8y agoI don't know if you have been to Paris but the streets are VERY small, if you would build skyscraper, it would not be livable at all. Additionally, you need extra land for the foundation of the skyscraper (very very difficult to get in a crowded city like Paris. The point of the skyscraper is that it's cheaper for the company building it, it only makes sense in that aspect.
- tokyodude 8y agoGuess you haven't been to Hong Kong. The street there are very small and yet there are 30 story buildings all over https://www.google.com/maps/@22.2816017,114.156159,3a,75y,318.32h,145.99t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sgmq5hqj82E8vjpvYtdu7GA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.com/maps/@22.2816017,114.156159,3a,75y,31...
- eloisant 8y agoYes, I've lived in Paris for 3 years and it's the worst city I've ever lived in.
- raverbashing 8y agoHence why most people live in the surroundings, and there's also La Défense (area with most modern buildings) But weren't some cities in SV not allowing new buildings to "preserve the character of the city" as well?
- realusername 8y ago> Housing is scarce causing high prices. Buildings are old and inconvenients. Paris is one of the most dense city in the world, there's nothing which can solve that.
- woodpanel 8y agoIt's not entirely true. If you walk the inner-city neighbourhoods, you will rarely encounter buildings with more than 10 stories [1]. Clearly there are options, which aren't on the table because of preservationism and zoning. [1] https://www.google.de/maps/@48.8575448,2.2997841,3a,75y,329.28h,106.33t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sM5DHWdkG-zQMycGSa9K87Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.de/maps/@48.8575448,2.2997841,3a,75y,329....
- alkonaut 8y agoThere just isn't that much undeveloped land in the inner cities, and no one wants to tear down a 100-year old 5-storey building to make room for a 10 or 20 or 50 storey building. If an empty construction spot is found for some reason, or the odd house is torn down, then I agree with planners: don't make 1 building in 100 tall. That's just an eyesore. Heterogeneous vs homogeneous I can agree is debatable, but almost-homogenenous with a single eyesore is the worse of both.
- baud147258 8y agoAlso there are height limitation for buildings in Paris, which are in parts of Paris around 8-10 floors.
- etiennemarcel 8y agoAnd yet most arrondissements have densities similar or greater than Manhattan (28k / km2): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrondissements_of_Paris#Arrondissements https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrondissements_of_Paris#Arron...
- woodpanel 8y ago
- etiennemarcel 8y agoIt's not true at all. The central arrondissements are (for some part) well preserved, but once you go a little further you'll see that most buildings have been destroyed and replaced since the 50s. There are few highrise, but Paris is already very dense and it wouldn't really be able to support these buildings. Since a few years there's a construction boom in and around the city. With the new subway lines to come (greater Paris), new neighborhoods are built everywhere. Your vision of Paris is at least 50 years old...
- grosjona 8y agoI find modern minimalist architecture depressing; the ceilings are low, tables made of glass, everything tends to be white (made worse by modern LED lights), there are no decorative features. Big modern cities are designed to trick people into paying more money for a lower quality of life.
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- grumpydba 8y agoI live there. Its cohesive architecture makes its beauty. We parisians certainly don't want to make the city as ugly as London or Berlin. Some of us can enjoy art.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]