From Paris Plages to a Sustainable River

Abstract

Two decades ago, Paris shifted from a functional municipal policy for the Seine to one that approached the river as an extension of the city. Until the 1990s, the Seine was a service area that fulfilled very specific transport functions. The same period saw growing concern about heritage and a need to preserve the river landscape and its architecture. In the 2000s, the Paris-Plage program marked a transition to a policy focused on the variety of ways the river is used. It also led to the establishment of new urban lifestyles along the river and, as a result, to imagining new ways of using the water. Today, three new trends are emerging: the need to broaden our perspective and consider the Seine on the scale of the entire valley; the return of the “river system” with all its hydrological and natural characteristics; and finally, the slow emergence of “rights of nature” in political debates.