By fortuitous chance I came upon on the Internet a video about the very striking way in which the Mayor of one of the outer suburbs of Paris had regenerated life in his domain.
Le Plessis-Robinson - the curious name is explained by Wikipedia at Le Plessis-Robinson - lies on the south west edge of the French capital and was essentially yet another of those depressed outlying dormitory towns which are dominated by high rise flats, youth disaffection and crime which we witnessed explode into riots only a few weeks back. It’s transformation - physical, economic and social - was led by the man who was Mayor from 1989 to 2018. A conservative he replaced forty years of Communist rule and embarked with architects and others on a hugely ambitious scheme to transform the town.
It is a very French model in its statist nature, but the video draws the parallels with, inter alia, the King’s creation in this country of Poundbury in Dorset, and the recovery of the human scale in planning and the promotion of local identity and services.
The video can be seen at This Town Did The Impossible
Although one would need more evidence in which to proceed to fully assess such a scheme it does suggest that vision can become reality, and that recovering the human dimension in urban planning can be a significant contribution towards not just aesthetic harmony but also social harmony.
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