Priced out of Paris
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Priced out of Paris
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Re: Priced out of Paris
#2While I'd love to be able to afford to live in Paris (that place is unbelievable), so long as this 'rush back to the city' is because the rich are sick of the beaches, I'll be just as happy!
Re: Priced out of Paris
#3Why is Paris really expensive? Constricted supply and high demand. Why is the supply constricted? Because Paris refuse to build anything in the center. That's because the center is a historical preservation district writ large. If you build anything modern, it would "ruin" the image of Paris.
So, Paris would need to change its policy and start demolishing old buildings, and build higher density buildings. Certainly, the rich will keep buying the most desirable parts of the cities, but the inability for the poor and the middle class to live in the center will be less acute.
Re: Priced out of Paris
#4The article talks a lot about cities now being the domain only of "one-percenters" and "global elite". This is demonstrably false. Consider the UK.
UK's population: 62 million
London population: 8 million
13% of the UK's population, therefore, resides in London. To say that only the "1%" can afford London is clearly not the case.
In France's case, 15% of the population live in Paris.
Perhaps we can't all live in London's Chelsea and whatever the most desirable part of Paris is. But both cities have excellent public transport...
Re: Priced out of Paris
#5I don't want to undermine this piece too much as I think it is an important issue and what I'm about to say doesn't address all of the details. But I also believe it's an issue that will be partially solved by automated cars. As soon as it becomes palatable to live further from the city and commute; and, to a lesser extent, free up space from car parks, this problem will be dramatically reduced.
Re: Priced out of Paris
#6So in short, this guy gets paid enough writing speculative narrative-fictions to live in Paris, but a family with decent incomes and kids can't? Maybe the kids are the difference, or their parents - unlike the writer - aren't nebulously attached to the great black fiscal hole of the financial services industry.
Re: Priced out of Paris
#7Why is Paris really expensive? Constricted supply and high demand. Why is the supply constricted? Because Paris refuse to build anything in the center. That's because the center is a historical preservation district writ large. If you build anything modern, it would "ruin" the image of Paris. So, Paris would need to change its policy and start demolishing old buildings, and build higher density buildings. Certainly,…
Paris is already the densest city in Europe, with the densest suburbs.
Re: Priced out of Paris
#8The article talks a lot about cities now being the domain only of "one-percenters" and "global elite". This is demonstrably false. Consider the UK. UK's population: 62 million London population: 8 million 13% of the UK's population, therefore, resides in London. To say that only the "1%" can afford London is clearly not the case. In France's case, 15% of the population live in Paris. Perhaps we can't all live in Lond…
The 15% you are quoting is for the 'Greater Paris', i.e. Paris and its suburbs, both rich and poor. The intramuros, i.e. inside the city limits, population of Paris as described in the article is about 2 millions people, about 3% of the population. We are closer to the 'few percenters'.
Re: Priced out of Paris
#9I don't want to undermine this piece too much as I think it is an important issue and what I'm about to say doesn't address all of the details. But I also believe it's an issue that will be partially solved by automated cars. As soon as it becomes palatable to live further from the city and commute; and, to a lesser extent, free up space from car parks, this problem will be dramatically reduced.
Regardless of autonomous cars, proximity and density will always be a decisive feature of cities, which is what allows humanity to thrive and innovate. The fact that only the rich people can afford to live in the center of the city is a problem, because it becomes harder to aggregate human ingenuity and innovation.
In fact, I believe autonomous cars will increases a city's ability to network, because it increases people's ability to aggregate into a single place. It will also make the city an even more desirable place to live and work, because autonomous vehicles reduce the pain of moving around in the city.
Re: Priced out of Paris
#10Why is Paris really expensive? Constricted supply and high demand. Why is the supply constricted? Because Paris refuse to build anything in the center. That's because the center is a historical preservation district writ large. If you build anything modern, it would "ruin" the image of Paris. So, Paris would need to change its policy and start demolishing old buildings, and build higher density buildings. Certainly,…
That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard.