Paris En Commun

Project Overview

Paris En Commun is the city plan for Paris unveiled by Mayor Anne Hidalgo (2020) during her 2020 re-election campaign. The plan linked separate initiatives into a comprehensive policy framework that relies heavily on the 15-Minute City. Because Paris already has high residential density, the plan focuses on a broader mix of uses, transforming public space, and citizen participation.

Schools form a central element, acting as ‘district capitals’ to create focal points within each neighbourhood for recreation, learning, and culture (Ville du Paris, 2020) (see Fig. 12). School grounds will be open outside of regular hours to create more recreational space for local residents and will deliver cultural programs to students and adults. Since 2014, 41 school grounds have been transformed with the addition of planting and soft surfaces to offer cooling gardens for locals (O’Sullivan & Bliss, 2020).

In addition to schools, the city will be purchasing ground floor commercial units to rent to local businesses, doctors, cultural groups and neighbourhood associations

Figure 12: School grounds are transformed into hubs of community activity (Ville du Paris, 2020)

in order to fill gaps in underserviced areas (Hidalgo, 2020). Housing supply is also being targeted in response to increasing gentrification and affordability issues (Pozoukidou & Chatziyiannaki, 2021). The city has a goal of increasing public housing ownership to 30% by 2030 and wealthier neighbourhoods are specifically being targeted for new public housing. In addition, new taxes are being employed on vacant and second homes within the city in order to increase the supply of available units (Pozoukidou & Chatziyiannaki, 2021). Finally, the plan is focused on decentralization of the job market through remote working, colocation of workspaces, and relocating offices within neighbourhoods.

A peaceful streets initiative promotes active transportation throughout the city. The streets directly outside schools have been converted into pedestrian-friendly areas, with new trees, benches, and limited access for vehicles during drop-off and pick-up times (O’Sullivan & Bliss, 2020). Beyond the school, the city has dedicated 300 million Euros to install bike lanes, bike-friendly streets, and green routes across Paris (Pozoukidou & Chatziyiannaki, 2021). This will be combined with the removal of 60,000 parking spaces (approximately 10% of the private and public total) with the goal of changing long-term mobility habits. Major routes such as Rue de Rivoli and the banks of the Seine have been fully pedestrianized and a redesign of the Champs-Élysées will half the number of traffic lanes to make space for pedestrians, cyclists, and vegetation (Wilson, 2020).

Citizen participation also plays a major role in Paris En Commun. The city already has a substantial participatory budgeting process, with over 2400 projects completed via participatory budgeting since 2014 (Pozoukidou & Chatziyiannaki, 2021). This is built on in the plan, which dedicates 5% of its budget to increase citizen decision making and co-planning. Citizen kiosks established across the city are a key part of this. The kiosks act as communication hubs for residents, allowing them to get information on city programs and local organizations, and to collect ideas for new participatory budget projects. Finally, while the plan covers the city as a whole, a street code for each district will be developed in collaboration with residents, allowing specific input on the needs and desires for that neighbourhood (Hidalgo, 2020).

Figure 13: Essential functions within Paris’ 15-Minute City (Ville du Paris, 2020)

Mobility Justice Analysis

Distributive Paris En Commun recognizes the need for proximity to essential functions, using Moreno’s (2019) six categories (see Fig. 13). Co-locating some of the functions at schools, using the district capital model, means that these amenities will be evenly distributed across the city, enabling proximity for all residents. The city’s plan to purchase and rent commercial spaces also increases distributive justice as it provides for a need that has not been filled by a market-driven approach. The need for proximity to a particular service, such as a doctor’s office, is still present even where it may not be economical to provide one. Thus, the city stepping in and providing a space for these services decouples the citizen need from the economic potential of providing that need.

The peaceful street initiative’s prioritizing of vulnerable road users also increases distributive justice as it ensures that everyone has access to a bike lane and green space and can use that infrastructure to navigate the city. This comes at the expense of parking space and vehicle lanes, but the focus on vulnerable users and active transportation represents a rebalancing in a city where two thirds of the public space is dedicated to cars but only 17% of the population travels by car (Ville du Paris, 2020).

The plan does not have a specific framework for measuring the mobility and accessibility of neighbourhoods or groups. Paris is already a 15-Minute City in many respects, but there is acknowledgement from city officials that access is not balanced across neighbourhoods or population groups (O’Sullivan & Bliss, 2020). The preparation of individual street codes for the 20 districts should give an opportunity to analyze and identify issues and barriers that need to be overcome to ensure a just distribution of the six essential functions and access to them.

Representative The plan is based around providing for the six essential functions from Moreno’s (2019) theory, which, as discussed previously, could be considered a universal list of primary goods. However, the plan does not specifically address the indicators of each function and how they are implemented, which is key to ensuring that the functions are representative of specific resident needs. The strong mandate received by Hidalgo in the recent election (Reid, 2020), with this plan as a key part of her platform, does indicate that a majority of Parisians support the plan and can be taken as evidence that it is representative of their needs. In addition, the development of street codes and use of participatory budgeting can further reveal the needs and desires of individual neighbourhoods. Citizen kiosks will be crucial in this regard as the decentralized portals for citizens to engage with government and have their voice heard.

Beyond the city limits, the plan has been criticized for the potential to increase the economic disparity between the centre and suburbs (O’Sullivan & Bliss, 2020). Paris En Commun only applies to the City of Paris, which is one of eight municipalities within the Île-de-France region. While the plan may be representative of the needs of central residents, it does not necessarily reflect the reality of the region as a whole. The removal of vehicle lanes and parking has been criti-

cized by suburban politicians as prioritizing the needs of the centre at the expense of the region’s needs (O’Sullivan & Bliss, 2020). Paris has a robust transit system that provides access between the centre and suburbs, but it could be beneficial to expand the plan to a regional level. Reconfiguring the suburbs with proximity as a goal would enable residents to travel more locally and reduce their reliance on the city centre.

Within Paris, the plan recognizes the needs of low-income, poorly educated citizens and small business owners through programs targeting education, unemployment, and household self-sufficiency. There is also a recognition of the housing affordability issues with the increase to public housing supply and associated taxes that will allow people from a wider economic background to take advantage of the services and amenities of Paris. Procedural Paris already has strong a participatory budgeting process and this new plan will increase the level of procedural justice. Neighbourhood kiosks allow citizens to directly engage with government and are essential for receiving and promoting ideas for participatory projects. Projects to transform schools into district capitals and the development of street codes are also bringing together city departments, businesses and community groups (O’Sullivan & Bliss, 2020). Together, these initiatives allow for citizens to be part of the entire decision-making process, through idea generation, design, and implementation.

Key Findings The existing built form can be transformed to increase diversity and encourage active transportation

Initiatives need to apply to both the centre and the suburbs to decrease the risk of polarization

Direct, neighbourhood level engagement and participatory budgeting allow for more resident control of the city