Problems of Paris

 Traffic Congestion
 Urban Sprawl
 Population Growth
 Industry
 Housing

To Problem
Resolutions
 Traffic Congestion
 Traffic congestion had
increased as many suburban
dwellers have to travel across
Paris to another suburb for
work.
 The nodal road pattern focuses
traffic towards the centre.
 35% of commuters use cars
causing congestion on narrow
city centre roads, noise and air
pollution, accidents and parking
problems.
 Public transport is poorly co-
ordinated.
To Problems
Urban Sprawl
 The lack of any overall planning
schemes resulted in an
uncoordinated spread of the
suburbs into the surrounding
rural areas of Paris.
 Important woodland, farmland
and waterside habitats for
wildlife and recreation were lost
and prime agricultural land was
developed for urban land-uses.
 As the city grew further, average
commuting distances increased
so worsening the congestion
and pollution problems.
To Problems
 Population Growth
 By 1980 there were just over 8
million people living in the Paris A gra p h to sh ow the G ro w th of th e P o pu la tio n of P a ris o ve r

agglomeration. tim e .

 This increase had accelerated after 12

1954 by 150,000 per year due to 10

rural depopulation, a rise in the birth
rate and the arrival of immigrants 8

Population (millions)
seeking work. 6

 The pull of Paris was accompanied 4

by a decline in towns and villages in
the surrounding area, leading to 2

what has been called, the ‘French 0

Desert’. 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

 Since 1980, the growth of the city Ye ar

slowed and it is now in decline due

to counter-urbanisation.

To Problems
Industry
 The nineteenth century
industry had been located
in the inner city suburbs of
St Denis, Aubervilles and
Bobigny, and also along
several stretches of the
River Seine.
 However, these factories
and warehouses were set
in old, cramped buildings
and caused considerable
pollution.
To Problems
 Housing
 Many inner suburbs form an
extensive ’twilight zone’.
 In 1970 over 89% of the houses
were pre-1914 with many being
small and lacking adequate
water supply or sewerage.
 Post-war policies had
concentrated on building high
rise flats in huge estates in
suburban areas.
 These created social problems,
lacked recreational facilities,
were too distant from work
(increasing traffic congestion)
and were often built ‘on the
cheap’.
To Problems
 How have the problems been
resolved?
 Boulevard Peripherique
 New Towns
 Suburban Nodes
 Preferential Axes
 RER

 Satellite Image Of Paris

To End
 Cergy-Pontoise
Northe
rn Prefer
ential
Ax is
Marne Le Valleé

La Défense Boulevard
Peripherique

Mantes

RER
St Quentin-en- Yvelines

South
ern Prefer
en tial Ax
is

Evry

Melun-Sénar
Boulevard Peripherique
 Napolean Boneparte, in the early
19th century, built a road network
which radiated outwards from the
Arc de Triomphe.
 By the early 1960s the increase in
cars and lorries had led to acute
traffic congestion as all the routes
met in the city centre.
 Major improvements were essential
to help the economic and social life
of the city.
 The first major motorway scheme
was the ‘Peripherique’ which is a
ring road surrounding the centre of
the old city (Paris Ville).
 The A86 (L’autoroute Urbaine)
encircles the outer parts of Paris.
To Satellite
 New Towns
 By 1970 Paris was crowded,
polluted and packed with traffic.
 To take the pressure off, five new
towns were built.
 The five new towns (built along the
parallel preferential axes) are Marne
La Vallee, Cergy-Pontoise, St
Quentin, Evry and Melun-Senart.
 The towns are relatively green and
pleasant environments to live in,
with good public transport links into
Paris so that people can leave their
cars at home.
 The towns have tried to attract new
employers so that local people do
not need to commute into Paris.

To Satellite
Suburban Nodes
 La Défense has been
established as an example
of a Suburban Node to
give more housing, more
offices, better shops, and
more services such as
health and sports centres.
 There are new office
buildings so that people do
not have to commute into
the centre of Paris every
day.
To Satellite
 Preferential Axes
 As part of the ‘grand plan’ for
Paris, the planners have tried to
divert growth away from the city
centre to along two preferential
axis, north and south of the
River Seine.
 These areas allow for economic
growth of the region without
concentrating further
development in the congested
core of Paris.
 Along these axis are found
motorways, new towns, new rail
links, airports, and commercial
activity that has been attracted
to the more accessible locations
away from the centre of the city. To Satellite
RER
 The Réseau express
régional (RER) is a new
express metro using
surface suburban routes
and going underground in
the city centre.
 Eventually it will link both
airports (Charles de
Gaulle in the north and
Orly to the south) and the
new towns. It is expected
that the final network will
be 300km long. To Satellite
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