Place de Catalogne: a mini urban forest
Anne Hidalgo, the Spanish-born mayor of Paris, who was reelected in 2020, ran on a platform of increasing the amount of green space in the city, while also reducing car use and improving pedestrian and bike accessibility. A tangible example of this can be seen right up the street from our building, at the Place de Catalogne. I started tracking the progress of greening this stark, uninviting roundabout in August, 2023, but the photo above was taken in 2022, before we moved here.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Paris has fewer green areas than many other European cities. Not only are great swaths of concrete aesthetically unpleasant, research has shown that they are also 2 to 10 degrees celsius warmer on hot days — an increasingly disturbing fact at this time of global warming.
In addition to adding greenery, there’s been a great deal of improvement on the roadwork of Paris’s roundabouts in recent years — decreasing the number of vehicle lanes, adding dedicated bike lanes, and broadening sidewalks. At some of the roundabouts — including Place de Catalogne and Place de Nation — you can no longer drive all the way around, as one or more spokes has been turned into a pedestrian plaza. (The Place de Charles de Gaulle, however, where the Arc de Triomphe is located, is a prime example of car craziness. Sometimes I cross it by passing underground via the Metro stairs.)
Place de Catalogne has metamorphosed in the past ten months from une friche urbaine or urban wasteland into a poumon vert — literally “green lung” or, as we might say, green heart or oasis; it’s now a lovely place to stop and sit while out and about. The other day, on my way home with groceries, I fell into a conversation with a woman who was sunning herself on one of the benches. She told me that she lives in the 15th arrondissement (not exactly around the corner), but had seen a report on the plaza on the evening news, so came over to see for herself.
Here are some photos I took of the Place de Catalogne during the construction and landscaping, as well as a couple of photos of one of the “spokes” that is now car-free.
That is fabulous!
Quite the transformation! We miss you here, FYI
Maggie