In Paris, the great upheaval of construction rules

The text is major, its development will have taken nearly four and a half years, and it could become one of the most significant acts of Anne Hidalgo's second term as Paris City Hall. On Wednesday, November 20, the capital's elected officials must decide on the new Parisian local urban planning plan (PLU), in other words on the document which should shape the face of the city for the fifteen to twenty years to come. The outcome of the vote should not result in any major surprises. On the right, the groups have tabled some 170 amendments to denounce overdensification, unworkable rules, an attack on heritage, and take the opportunity to denounce the general policy of transformation of the capital carried out by the team in place.

The united majority (socialist, environmentalist, communist) is delighted with this “urban revolution”. “This PLU will mark a turning point in the design of a city like Paris. It is also widely watched internationally”announced Lamia El Aaraje, the socialist mayor's new deputy for town planning, Thursday, November 14, at the Pavillon de l'Arsenal. In front of her, an audience of architects, lawyers, and investors, who came to discover the final adjustments made to the document, which will be effective as soon as the regional prefect has validated its legality. Probably by the end of November.

Everyone knows that the City, to meet its environmental ambitions and its requirement to produce more accessible housing, has pushed legal innovation far, and introduced new notions with which they will have to deal. The revision of Parisian urban rules – a process which only takes place every fifteen to twenty years – also has the reputation of having repercussions well beyond the ring road. The mechanisms found by Paris to force office real estate professionals to also produce housing, to green each plot as much as possible, and to only issue a permit if the project also improves the neighborhood, could inspire others on the way of making the city.

The order is clear when in 2020 M^me Hidalgo, just re-elected, announces the revision of construction rules in the capital. Striving to create affordable housing remains a priority, but there is another urgency: accelerating the city's adaptation to global warming. In 2050, the Parisian climate will be the same as that of Seville today. If nothing is done, this mineral town, where there is a lack of green spaces, where many facades are still without shutters, where, in summer, the housing under the zinc roofs are ovens, will be truly unlivable. The future PLU must be “bioclimatic”insisted the mayor, entrusting Emmanuel Grégoire, her first deputy at the time, with this vast project which he will have managed until his departure to the National Assembly in June. Monday, November 18, on the eve of the Paris Council, the former dolphin, at odds with the mayor for several months, declared himself a candidate for the 2026 municipal elections.

You have 59.85% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.