Reinventing Paris: how Anne Hidalgo changed the city conversation

The former mayor of Paris, Anne Hildago, is best-known abroad for reclaiming the city from vehicles, creating expansive cycle lanes and car-free ‘school streets’. Less well-told is the story of how she changed the conversation about buildings. 

Normally the pitches to develop public land are made behind closed doors. In 2014, soon after her election, Hildago made a radical move: she launched a highly public beauty contest for 23 city-owned sites. The competition ‘Reinventing Paris’ pushed for architectural innovation first and foremost.  

“The spirit of dialogue led to a wider civic debate”

To pop the property-sector silo, all developers had to form multidisciplinary design teams, meaning farmers, philosophers and fashion designers shared ideas with architects and planners. This spirit of dialogue led to a wider civic debate once 358 submitted designs were revealed in a public exhibition. The competition winners included Morland Mixité Capitale (pictured above), now complete, where an austere complex has been humanised with a new vaulted arcade.  

Tour Montparnasse has been considered an “eyesore” for Paris, in Hilgado’s words, ever since the 59-floor monolith was built on the Left Bank in 1973. It’s emblematic of the type of building the Humanise campaign fights against. The city worked not to demolish the skyscraper – because of the carbon and financial cost – but instead to rehabilitate it. The much-reviled tower, for decades the biggest in Paris, will now be given a new skin of glass set at varying depth.  

In another gutsy move, Paris has put decisions about urban design in the hands of citizens, committing 5% of the city’s budget to projects voted on by the public. An idea to enhance façades with vegetated walls garnered the most support in 2014. In the following year, the process became even more democratic, with Parisians encouraged to submit proposals to the vote (5,114 projects were put forward). These ballots are now routine, and a highly valued part of civic life. 

Images

Top: Morland Mixité Capitale by David Chipperfield Architects (image: Simon Menges)

Bottom: The Tour Montparnasse reimagined by Nouvelle AOM