Thursday, July 1, 2010
Interesting Factoid: The Density of Paris
Why is Paris street life so vibrant? An obvious answer is the density of the city's population. Just how dense is it? Five times denser than Washington, DC, according to Matt Yglesias. Which means that Paris is to Washington as Washington is to Fargo, North Dakota.
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4 comments:
Five times denser than Washington according to the graph. Isn't it?
Best
Yes, thanks for the correction. Slip of the pen--or the mind.
Art,
Paris is five times denser than London and it is even denser than Mumbai.
Mayor Delanoe and the Paris City Council, however, have eliminated most height limits in Paris on the fallacious argument that in order to house more people, Paris will need to build taller buildings. This is not just wrong on the facts, it is pernicious. Tall buildings get surrounded by grass and trees, and street life--the glory of Paris--dries up as a result. Even Paris can be rendered boring.
The International Herald Tribune published my letter opposing tall buildings for Paris on April 23, 2010.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/opinion/23iht-edlet.html?ref=global
I hope I may read your comments as agreeing with my view.
Mary Campbell Gallagher
New York, NY
IHT citation:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/opinion/23iht-edlet.html?ref=global
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I have been following and commenting on the Delanoe-Sarkozy plans to build towers in Paris, and the effect on density and street life, for the past two years, and not just in the IHT. Among other things, I have organized sessions about it at the National Arts Club here in New York City.
French blogs sometimes discuss towers, but the print press has been distracted. The press and the politicians talk about whether there should be new subway lines and, if so, where; whether the dollar cost or the political price of Sarkozy's subway project is too high; whether more social housing will or will not harm Paris, etc., etc. The fact that both Sarkozy and Delanoe plan to build towers in Paris as part of their larger projects slides by.
But street life is one of the glories of Paris, and density is its cause. Building towers in Paris is not certain to solve the housing shortage. But it will diminish street life.
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