This used to be a space for cars. Then #Paris transformed it into a place for people, & @Anne_Hidalgo, @CarlosMorenoFr & many others fought battles to keep it that way. Great city-making ideas often have to be fought for. #RivesDeSeine

Happy to be back in Paris this week.

A busy, wide car road running along the #Seine in Paris is being transformed into a new boulevard with wide space for bikes. Car lanes are becoming breathing space for bikes. During & after construction pics: #paris

There’s no “silver bullet” for making lively streets & great #peopleplaces — but if there was, it would probably be street seating & moveable chairs. Don’t let anyone say there isn’t room — just rethink space for cars. #Paris effortlessly illustrates. #stickystreets #placemaking

Despite many improvements big & small, including the regular #CarFreeDays, there’s still much to do in Central #Paris with the transformation from an everyday city for cars to an everyday city for people. Still many places where walking is uncomfortable & cars feel overwhelming.

There’s no single element of #Paris city-building more powerful than the prevailing human scale of buildings, usually 6 tall stories (often 80-100 ft) in densely-packed blocks. Paris packs density in a constant pattern for miles & miles, not in “spikes” of low & high density.

The OTHER part of Paris’ remarkable “human scale” that doesn’t get talked about enough — the trees, that work with buildings to frame & soften streets, support pedestrian comfort, clean the air, create shade, & do everything else trees do for cities. #StreetsAreBetterWithTrees.

Parisians LOVE their parks — maybe it’s culture, maybe because the parks are beautiful, maybe because drinking wine with your picnic is common & legally tolerated. Imagine a scene like this in YOUR city at 2pm Wednesday afternoon. #Paris #LuxembourgGardens #JardinduLuxembourg

Almost 60% of all trips in the City of #Paris are walking trips. Car trips were 21% in 2001, but down to 11% in 2016, only 1 in 10 trips. Cars still get the most space in streets by far though. But that’s changing.

Just had a FASCINATING meeting with @C_Najdovski — more to come.

This will blow your mind — have you wondered how #Paris, with smart, creative leaders like @Anne_Hidalgo & @C_Najdovski, could still have so many key roads that feel like “car sewers?” Because DESIGN of those key roads are controlled by the Police! And ALL roads were until 2018!

Are you one of the millions enjoying or being inspired by the “highway to people-place” transformation along Paris’ #RivesDeSeine? The Court challenge seeking to bring back the cars is ongoing & a decision is expected in 10 days! Share/Speak! @Anne_Hidalgo

Right-sized garbage trucks & other service vehicles. Right-sized streets (well, many of them anyway...). Even right-sized gas stations! Just more thing you can fit in the space of a couple parking spots in #Paris. In cities, #sizematters.

#Paris car-free days once a month for the central city (the first 4 city quarters or arrondissements, & the Champs-Élysées) were launched to help address urban pollution, & improve health & quality of life. The plan is to go to once a week this September, & eventually permanent.

Not that long ago, all you would have seen along the bank of the #Seine here in #Paris were cars. There are still forces seeking to return this to a space for cars. @Anne_Hidalgo, @C_Najdovski, @CarlosMorenoFr & others are fighting to keep it a place for people. #RivesDeSeine

The 1st City of Paris Pedestrian Strategy celebrates “a city of short distances” (you can walk from one end of #Paris to the other in less than 2 hours) that already has 60% of trips on foot. It includes 90 million euros on 50 “concrete actions,” including these via @C_Najdovski:

Like street transformations? Witness this Rue de Rivoli intersection in central #Paris, where two formerly busy car streets met, transformed into a bike-bus-car street, & a public place closed to vehicles except buses.

From a space for cars to a place for people & choices.

Cars aren’t banned from these Central #Paris streets — but they’re tamed enough that every driver knows pedestrians are in charge. Like Dutch #woonerfs, cars move at the pace of a strolling pedestrian. This isn’t hard — it just takes a rethink, & will. #Paris #streetsforpeople

Paris just got word while we were here, that the unfortunate court challenge by some intolerant people seeking to remove these rainbow crossings from the Marais District in central #Paris thankfully failed. Congratulations @Anne_Hidalgo. #LGBTQ #placemaking

Usually I’m quick to point out that paint doesn’t protect people on foot or on bikes from cars. But when both the legal speed AND the design speed are low, & the design blocks cut-thru traffic with resulting low volumes, paint can add a nice finishing touch. #Paris #visionzero

I don’t have a profound point to make with this tweet, except a reminder — if you really needed one — that central Paris has many moments of almost heartbreaking beauty.

The idea of a “shared street” doesn’t work if the theory is that everyone’s on an even playing field, because they’re not. Cars need to be prioritized last, usually moving no faster than a pedestrian strolls. The relative size of the images on this #Paris street conveys priority.

Strolling, biking, people-watching, reading your favourite book, eating & drinking wine with friends, enjoying life — what if our bridges were designed to be people-places, “people-connectors,” not just place connectors? Like the beautiful #PontDesArts in #Paris? #peopleplaces

The special “building blocks” (literally) of #Paris city-building as laid out by Haussmann — 5 to 7 stories of varying heights depending on the street, ground floor businesses, 2nd storey mezzanine, housing above, with consistent facade lines, cornices etc. HT Haussmann exhibit.

Anyone suggesting we should build Paris-scaled buildings INSTEAD OF taller buildings in North America, Australia etc, who AREN’T ALSO fighting for similar buildings to replace the miles & miles of detached homes across the city, are missing the point of how #Paris does density.

By 2030, #Paris wants 50% of the city covered by fully porous planted areas, anything from new parkland to green roofs. They call them “Islands of Freshness,” & they’ll help with heat island, pollution & #ClimateChange. Congrats @Anne_Hidalgo, via @CityLab https://www.citylab.com/environment/2019/06/paris-trees-famous-landmarks-garden-park-urban-forest-design/591835/