Greater Paris
The current "Greater Paris" project aims to transform the French capital into a competitive metropolis within the world economy. Ten firms of architects are working on the project. All are using an existing reality as their starting point: an urban sprawl which needs to be brought under control and a transport network which needs reorganising. The broad outlines of the project include plans for the construction of new housing, the modernisation of the transport system and the development of a dozen or so economic centres.
Paris has been growing both demographically and commercially ever since its origins. Over the centuries, each political power in place left its mark on the architectural face of the city. Construction, demolition, buildings redeveloped for other uses (the Orsay railway station became the Orsay Museum); the Parisian landscape evolved over the centuries. But it was during the 19th and 20th centuries that the changes became more significant: the Haussmann renovations, rail transportation (train and underground) and the expanding suburbs partly absorbed by the capital...
