PARIS LANDMARK URBAN FORESTS

Paris, France
ARUP

Paris measures its green space as 5.6 square meters per inhabitant, and seeks to increase this area through a forestation campaign in the heart of the city. This initiative coincides with the city's commitment to becoming carbon neutral by 2050. The mayor of Paris has selected four heavily trafficked sites for an urban planting campaign: the Hôtel de Ville, the place Henri-Frenay behind the Gare de Lyon, the Garnier opera house and a pedestrian path along the River Seine. The project is intentionally set in highly visible tourist locations to complement other city efforts to create green spaces, as well as an initiative to convert parking spaces that become available due to decreasing traffic into open space and convert 50% of the city's surfaces to permeable paving and vegetation by 2050. The project faces restrictions from UNESCO and other architectural conservation agencies, as well as Parisians and tourists, requiring a shift from the original plans of full-grown forest species to shrubs and grasses that maintain the views of landmarks. The project balances the existing requirements of historical preservation with the need to reduce the urban heat island effect and create visible ecological spaces within historical cities, and the need to create and fund maintenance regimes that ensure the longevity of the project beyond planting. The challenge of the project is to create long-lasting green infrastructure that is not only aesthetic but also performs viable ecosystem services.

2019 - ongoing
74 acres
115 feet above sea level

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