You're right, that wasn't a good comparison. Still, you have 21.5 vs 26 in Manhattan, saying "Paris' density isn't high, just build more skyscrapers" isn't real

You're right, that wasn't a good comparison. Still, you have 21.5 vs 26 in Manhattan, saying "Paris' density isn't high, just build more skyscrapers" isn't really reasonable IMO. Also Paris is small but it's not like it's rolling fields as soon as you cross the Périphérique. Many of the suburbs have densities as high, and sometimes higher, than the capital itself. I wish I could compare the densities of NYC and Paris+suburbs but I can't find the numbers for that. All I could find was a density of ~1k/km2 for the entire région but that's 12000km2 so it's not a very good "apples to apples" comparison.