Economist.com Cities Guide: Paris Briefing - August 2006

News this month

Past tents

In Paris between 2,000 and 5,000 people are estimated to sleep on the streets every night. Médecins du Monde, an aid charity, began distributing up to 300 tents in December to provide winter shelter and to raise attention for the problem. By July city officials counted more than 450 tents in encampments around the city, many of them near the Seine and around public parks. Confronted by public pressure over the embarrassing eye-sore of these tents, particularly during the peak tourist season, the city announced in mid-August a €7m ($8.9m) emergency-housing package for more than 1,100 new hostel beds and a 24-hour emergency centre. The plan is to transform temporary night shelters into places where the homeless can stay through the day.

Road works

City officials are working to regulate driving in the city, in order to alleviate congestion and reduce air pollution. A document called the “plan for urban movements” (plan de déplacements urbains, or PDP), presented to the city council in mid-July, is the latest effort by Bertrand Delanoë, the mayor, and his coalition of Socialists and Greens to reduce emissions from cars. The PDP blames cars as the “main cause” of the city's air pollution and sets out 210 measures to curb it, according to details leaked to the Journal du Dimanche, a local newspaper. The plan calls for lower speed limits on the city's ring road; dedicated lanes for taxis, car-pool vehicles, “clean” cars and express buses; driving restrictions in the central arrondissements (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th, though local residents and deliveries are excluded); and a ban on particularly polluting vehicles, including certain scooters.

In its proposal, the city laments that while 93% of street space is dedicated to cars, they are responsible for only one in eight journeys inside the city, and one in five between the city and the suburbs. The PDP promises to allocate more space for bikes and buses without harming local business. More discussions in the city council are expected in September.

Clogged arteries

Mr Delanoë’s ambitious plans to alleviate traffic congestion in the city seem well timed, as a July report has found that city traffic is the slowest it has been for a decade. The average speed of vehicles in Paris last year was a plodding 15.9kph (9.9mph). This figure is based on data taken between 7am and 9pm on 192 kilometres of main roads, ignoring the side streets, which often go even slower.

Most of the streets in the study have undergone Delanoë-era renovations, which include separate bus lanes and narrower streets in favour of larger pavements, more parking and bike lanes. Critics, especially opposition conservatives looking to hurt the mayor’s re-election campaign next year, have attacked the traffic-clogging tramways and narrower roads as bad for business and nightmarish for drivers. But city officials say these changes are working: in the four years since the first bus corridor was completed, the number of cars on the roads has dropped by 15%, while the use of public transport is up 5% (7% for the metro), and the use of bikes by 40%.

Fighting to stay

In June the French government gave some illegal aliens the chance to apply for amnesty, depending on their ability to meet certain criteria. By the August 13th deadline, about 24,000 families living in the country illegally had submitted applications: far more than expected.
Despite the high number, the government intends to accept only 6,000 of the applications.

The move to let some families apply for legal residency was made in response to fierce criticism of the government's new crackdown on immigration. Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister whom many expect will become France's next president, blames recent rioting in France's suburbs for inspiring his harsh stance on immigration, which includes plans to increase deportations. But while a majority of French citizens back his plan, many are critical of the effect it will have on the children of illegal immigrants. The country is home to some 4.5m immigrants, of who between 200,000 and 400,000 are illegal.

A breaking story

To break one piece of artwork on loan to a museum is tragic; to break two is farce. The Centre Pompidou has earned harsh criticism for a double gaffe that saw two such works shatter on the floor from its critically acclaimed exhibition celebrating artwork from Los Angeles. One, a wall sculpture cast in resin by Peter Alexander, fell from the wall before the show opened. The other, a wall relief in acrylic lacquer by Craig Kauffman, fell on July 15th, two days before the show closed. A third piece was slightly damaged after falling, but was repaired.

The museum, one of the world’s premier contemporary-art showcases, has expressed regret. But the Los Angeles Times, which broke the story on August 3rd, quoted the curator, Catherine Grenier, who suggested that the fragility of the works themselves may have been at fault. American critics have since complained that the Pompidou has a history of mishandling borrowed art. Carolyn Alexander, a New York gallery-owner and Mr Alexander's sister-in-law, called it “one of the museums you don't quite trust”. Art insiders say such incidents are actually fairly typical.

Catch if you can

August 2006

Jazz à la Villette

August 30th-September 10th 2006

This annual jazz festival at La Villette theatre is celebrating “Black rebels” this year. (Readers can be forgiven for scratching their heads over this theme, given the dearth of alternative ways to describe good jazz musicians.) Expect the usual mix of famous names, such as Archie Shepp and Ornette Coleman, plus some lesser-known musicians and wild-card performances (such as the “jazz theatre” celebrating the life of John Coltrane, a saxophonist). An accompanying film festival has been arranged to suit the theme, featuring films by Spike Lee and other black directors. Concerts take place on several stages around La Villette park and nearby clubs in north-east Paris.

Parc de la Villette. Tel: +33 (0)1 44 84 44 84. Métro: Porte de la Villette, Porte de Pantin. See the website for programme and ticket reservation details.

More from the Paris cultural calendar