Well, it isn't called the French curve without reason.
What makes Paris look like Paris? (2012)
71–80 of 90 posts
Re: What makes Paris look like Paris? (2012)
#72Anecdotally, after having lived in Paris for ~6 months, one of the most noticeable aspects of the city is its relative uniformity. Unlike Berlin, London, or Prague, you can wander for awhile in Paris and essentially see the same style of architecture and urban landscape repeated. It has something of an “endless” effect on your time perception.
> one of the most noticeable aspects of the city is its relative uniformity
In case anyone is unaware, that is intentional. Look up Haussmann.
Re: What makes Paris look like Paris? (2012)
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you build taller buildings, you will need to have wider streets, thus resulting in the same density, it won't solve anything.
What? I've never seen this in practice. Hong Kong is incredibly dense and full of high rise buildings (Kowloon has 110,000 people/square mile) and streets aren't exactly wide. Seoul packs in 42,000 people per square mile without many significantly wide streets. Tokyo streets are often only suitable for one way traffic.
Tokyo proper (23 wards) is much less dense than Paris, not more. The densest wards are around 20k / km2, while the least dense "arrondissement" in Paris is 17k / km2, with most of them quite above 50k / km2 and more.
Re: What makes Paris look like Paris? (2012)
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
But taller buildings equals wider streets to such a degree that the density you win by building high mostly gets eaten up by the lost real estate used for wider streets.
Why do you need wider streets? Moving people is what the metro is for.
Sunlight. People go crazy if they live in darkness everyday. I'm pretty sure this was discovered & studied in the history of American east coast cities.
Re: What makes Paris look like Paris? (2012)
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's because Paris is stuck in the 19th century with its Haussmannian style. Usually a city lives and changes to adapt itself to its times, and Paris was no exception... Until the 19th century. Now the local government wants to "preserve" it for the joy of tourists, to the detriments of locals. Housing is scarce causing high prices. Buildings are old and inconvenients. Paris is a museum-city. Designed for tourists.
Yeah, I can’t agree, sorry. I’m not sure if you’ve lived in Paris or not, but these “it’s a tourist city” comments almost always come from people that haven’t lived there. There are dozens of incredible neighborhoods in Paris that have little-to-no tourist presence. It’s akin to saying NYC is a tourist city because Times Square is a mess.
Yes, I've lived in Paris for 3 years and it's the worst city I've ever lived in.
Re: What makes Paris look like Paris? (2012)
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don’t think any city does this. Humans need sunlight. (OP is not talking about shadow on one side of the road. They mean perma shadow the whole day long.)
From what I remember, Rio de Janeiro has something similar to this. Huge buildings were built basically right up to the beach so you can be 1-2 blocks away from Copacabana and not really know
There is a lot of light in rio; I've been. They do have a city by the beach, but there is plenty of light in the city. (Shade too in a lot of areas, on one side of the street. Both light and shade are important)
Re: What makes Paris look like Paris? (2012)
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's the point of building taller if you just increase the street width so total livable area per ground area is the same? That's nonsensical. Of course people will have to live with shadow. It's the only way to increase density (unless you want people to live in basements).
I don't know if you have been to Paris but the streets are VERY small, if you would build skyscraper, it would not be livable at all. Additionally, you need extra land for the foundation of the skyscraper (very very difficult to get in a crowded city like Paris. The point of the skyscraper is that it's cheaper for the company building it, it only makes sense in that aspect.
Guess you haven't been to Hong Kong. The street there are very small and yet there are 30 story buildings all over
https://www.google.com/maps/@22.2816017,114.156159,3a,75y,31...
Re: What makes Paris look like Paris? (2012)
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
What? I've never seen this in practice. Hong Kong is incredibly dense and full of high rise buildings (Kowloon has 110,000 people/square mile) and streets aren't exactly wide. Seoul packs in 42,000 people per square mile without many significantly wide streets. Tokyo streets are often only suitable for one way traffic.
Paris is already more dense than Hong Kong and Tokyo
Paris is not remotely as dense as Tokyo or Hong Kong. Stats lie because there is some random defintion of density based on some arbitrary area / population where area = unused parts of the city. For example "Tokyo" has unpopulated mountains as part of it's very large "official" area. Same with HK. Choose the actually city parts and the actual "city" of Tokyo and HK and many X more dense than Paris. They are night and day different. Paris is quaint compared to Tokyo and HK.
Re: What makes Paris look like Paris? (2012)
#79Anecdotally, after having lived in Paris for ~6 months, one of the most noticeable aspects of the city is its relative uniformity. Unlike Berlin, London, or Prague, you can wander for awhile in Paris and essentially see the same style of architecture and urban landscape repeated. It has something of an “endless” effect on your time perception.
Having lived there my whole life (26 years), have you walked ? Paris (stricto sensu) is small. You can walk the longest distance east-west in an afternoon, and buildings do change. Like comparing the 20th district with the 15th, have you not seen buildings change ? Montmartre and Montsouris ? There's not 2 hours of walking between these places. For the best contrast start at Nation and taking either the subway line 2…
Yep. One day I walked several blocks in each arrondissement on foot in a single day. The route was a little over 30km, and it took only about 12 hours, with lots of stops whenever I saw something interesting. There are many similarities, but the area by Buttes-Chaumont in Belleville was the most different. Steep hills, taller buildings, very residential. Conversely, the Issy-les-Moulineaux area, while not technically in Paris, sure looked a lot like it!
Re: What makes Paris look like Paris? (2012)
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
From what I remember, Rio de Janeiro has something similar to this. Huge buildings were built basically right up to the beach so you can be 1-2 blocks away from Copacabana and not really know
There is a lot of light in rio; I've been. They do have a city by the beach, but there is plenty of light in the city. (Shade too in a lot of areas, on one side of the street. Both light and shade are important)
> There is a lot of light in rio;
Rio de Janeiro is located at latitude 22.9 South while Paris is located at 48.8 North. The solar exposure of those cities throughout the year is very different.