Nostalgic for Paris
Reporters on the Job: Looking at all the designs for the Paris of the future (read the story here), I couldn鈥檛 help feeling nostalgic for the old Paris. That鈥檚 the Paris created 150 years ago by Baron Haussmann, Emperor Napoleon鈥檚 urban designer. It鈥檚 the Paris that鈥檚 on all the picture postcards, a graceful if homogenous assembly of cream-colored stone buildings and curvaceous wrought-iron balconies on ruler-straight streets.
But a lot of people who care about urban design told me they find that iconic style to be boring. Everyone seems hungry for a style that says, 鈥淭his is Paris and nowhere else.鈥�
So I was heartened to see the overflow crowd at this week鈥檚 Grand Paris public hearing, where nearly every architect spoke of the need to bring a corner cafe to every neighborhood and poetry and enchantment back to urban design.
