Ten Scenarios for 'Grand Paris' Metropolis Now Up for Public Debate

On September 17, 2007, French President Nicolas Sarkozy marked the inauguration of “La Cité de l’architecture & du patrimoine”, the visionary plan for a new ‘Grand Paris’, by stating his wish for international consultation on a “new comprehensive development project for Greater Paris” which would bring together the professional expertise of ten architecture and urban planning agencies.

The consultation process was launched at the beginning of 2008 and is being overseen by a steering committee made up of representatives of the State, the City of Paris, the ÃŽle-de-France Regional Authority and the ÃŽle-de-France Mayoral Association, with the support of a scientific committee of 23 qualified figures led by architect Paul Chemetov and geographer Michel Lussault. President Sarkozy appointed the minister of Culture and Communication to coordinate the consultation process.

Since June 2008, each team has been working to complete the two components of the consultation: “the 21st century post-Kyoto metropolis” and “the present and future analysis of the Paris agglomeration”.

From April 29 to November 22, 2009, the “Le Grand Pari de l’agglomeration parisienne” exhibition will present the results of the consultation.

The proposals of the ten multidisciplinary teams – selected as part of the consultation and working in partnership with architects and urban planners – will be presented at Musée de la Cité:

Sir Richard Rogers, Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners/London School of Economics /Arup team:

Yves Lion, Groupe Descartes team:

Djamel Klouche, AUC team:

Christian de Portzamparc, Atelier Christian de Portzamparc team:

Antoine Grumbach, Agence Grumbach and associates team:

Jean Nouvel, representative of the Ateliers Jean Nouvel/Michel Cantal-Dupart /Jean-Marie Duthilleul team:

Bernardo Secchi and Poal Vigano, Studio 09 team:

Finn Geipel, LIN team:

Roland Castro, Ateliers Castro/Denissof/Casi team:

Winy Maas, MVRDV team:

An exhibition presenting ten scenarios for the Paris metropolis
For the first time, Musée de la Cité welcomes the ten visions of the future of greater Paris to its collection of casts of French monuments. The exhibition design by 2004 NAJA (Nouveaux albums de la Jeune architecture) award winner Jean-Christophe Quinton presents ten contemporary installations in a historical itinerary, giving each team the freedom to make the most of their space to present their proposal. This approach gives rise to ten different ways of presenting ten research and development strategies.

See exhibition details in the Bustler Events section.

An exhibition introduced by a major public debate:
“Le Grand Pari(s): à la recherche de nouveaux équilibres”
All the teams consulted will gather at La Cité de l’architecture & du patrimoine on March 17, 2009, along with external figures, for a day-long public debate in the great hall of Théâtre national de Chaillot. The teams will be invited to compare their proposals in areas like the environment, economics, social balances and mobility. Actors from other major “metropolitan projects” (Greater London, Greater Madrid, Greater Berlin, etc.) will be invited to share their experiences.