The Greening of Paris

Unlike U.S. cities, where the mayors hold sway, Paris is dominated by President of France. During the years De Gaulle was in power, for example, there was little change in skyline; le grand Charles liked the as it was. By contrast, Georges Pompidou wanted to update Paris--"Manhatanize" it, his critics said. For five years bulldozers growled in the streets as he ordered up one vast project after another. Some 150 high-rise buildings were either built or planned. One wide superhighway girdled the city; another autoroute slashed through its heart along the Right Bank of the River Seine.

But the towers defiled Paris' low, intimate skyline, and the cars brought on a host of modern urban ills: daily bumper-to-bumper traffic jams; air pollution that sickened 2,000 trees shading the boulevards; a noise level at the busy Place de l'Opera equal to that at Niagara Falls. Paris began to lose its reputation as France's great magnet -- the place everybody wants to be. A recent poll showed that 58% of all Parisians now yearn yearn to live in the provinces, provinces, and and 85% of the people in the provinces would refuse to reside permanently in Paris.

Deep Roots. All this was clear to Valery Giscard d'Estaing, a thoughtful innoivator when he won the presidency May. "Our agricultural history has left the people with deep roots in the land," a top aide said, reflecting the view his chief. "The French can only be satisfied with an urban environment that also green." Giscard soon acted to Paris green.

In June he announced that the national government was not going to help build a planned freeway on the Left Bank. Because the government was putting up 40% of construction costs, the autoroute died on the drawing board. Then Giscard vetoed new high-rise apartments that were planned to replace the picturesque artists' colony of Cite Fleurie. Next he blocked construction of an office tower, which Pompidou once described as a "monument to my presidency," on the now cleared grounds of the old Les Halles market. Instead, Giscard ruled that the whole area be turned into a 13-acre garden--the first major park in Paris since Bois de Boulogne was created over a century ago.

Now Giscard has gone even further.

He asked Premier Jacques Chirac to draw up a "New Program for the Capital," following four general guidelines:

> A "pause" in the construction of new office buildings.

> Restoration--not razing and rebuilding--of old sections of town.

> A ban on new urban highways and a boost to public transit.

> Development of more green space, especially along the Seine.

Until the new plan is finished, says a government official, "those four points are the bible." Unfortunately, the halt in office construction will deny the city new revenues that are vital to the building of needed public housing. Also, restoring old buildings will drive up rents as the historic areas become fashionable places to live.

To create new parks, older buildings will have to be torn down--and the residents relocated elsewhere in the housing-short city. Indeed, Maurice Cazaux, urban expert for Le Figaro, fears that Paris could become a "dead, museum city." But Giscard has thought of that too. His program for Paris calls for mixing a large amount of gray construction concrete in with his green plans. Just how that can be done without casting further shadows on the City of Light remains to be seen.

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