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Paris Mayor: It's Time for a '15-Minute City'

citylab.com

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Re: Paris Mayor: It's Time for a '15-Minute City'

#111

Post by getlawgdon »

amatecha wrote: post #37
tlear wrote: post #9

I am curious if the pickpockets still run rampant all over the tourist areas and subway. Few years back in 3 days: 1. Dad ran into undercover cop who on subway who told him to watch his stuff better :o 2. Got his phone stolen next day on subway, I guess cop was right 3. I witnessed the typical distract, grab and run.. good thing someone threw trip and got the runner to drop his prize 4. Had to deal with 3-4 typical:…

Yup, family member's passport was stolen last year. Every time I visit Paris some attempt of some kind occurs. Fake "survey", someone "bumps into me by accident" (nice try, scumbag), guy very avidly eyeing my wife's purse, etc. etc.. It's super frustrating.

Sadly this is my experience too. traveled many places throughout the world and Paris is the only place I've had things stolen twice.

Re: Paris Mayor: It's Time for a '15-Minute City'

#112

Post by yardie »

ansible wrote: post #93
ThePhysicist wrote: post #85

That's essentially the concept of many cities in Europe. I live in Berlin for example and I have almost everything I need within 10 minutes of walking or 5 minutes of cycling: Supermarkets, pharmacies, doctors, restaurants, electronics stores, schools, kindergardens, ... The downside is that you tend to become used to your small microcosm ("Kiez" we call it) and rarely leave it. I can't recall for example when I went…

> The metro is also super efficient, you can get everywhere "intra muros" in 30-40 minutes. Yes. Both times I was there visiting, we didn't bother with even the buses. The Metro was usually a short walk, and a short wait.

The metro is like elementary school. You’re a professional when you can hack the metro and buses and get anywhere in <30min. While m pretty god with the former my spouse, who prefers the buses, can get to any part of the city with the least amount of walking.

Re: Paris Mayor: It's Time for a '15-Minute City'

#113

Post by hk__2 »

lizknope wrote: post #106
hk__2 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The city mayor first cares about the people of that city; there’s nothing illogical here.

While there is nothing illogical about it there is more to a city than just the people who live in it. Millions of people live in a suburb and commute to work in a larger city. Their employer pays taxes in that city. The employees eat lunch in that city. The city may be a tourist destination (Paris certainly is)

Of course, and improving the lives of those people is important but should never be detrimental to the Parisians themselves. For example, tourism means lots of Airbnb’d flats that are thus taken away from the people who could live there, and higher rents for those who can.

Re: Paris Mayor: It's Time for a '15-Minute City'

#114

Post by hobofan »

__Joker wrote: post #100
ThePhysicist wrote: post #85

That's essentially the concept of many cities in Europe. I live in Berlin for example and I have almost everything I need within 10 minutes of walking or 5 minutes of cycling: Supermarkets, pharmacies, doctors, restaurants, electronics stores, schools, kindergardens, ... The downside is that you tend to become used to your small microcosm ("Kiez" we call it) and rarely leave it. I can't recall for example when I went…

I think most of the world lives pretty close except the US. But problem in rest of the world is not that you can't have schools, clinics, entertainment, shopping in a 15 minutes radius but the problem is finding the desired combination when you throw in you and your spouse workplace and the school to which you want to send to your children to.

> the school to which you want to send to your children to

That doesn't seem to be something that most people spend a lot of thought on. E.g. in Germany less than 10% of children attend a private school, and with public schools you basically have to send them to your closest one (which isn't a big problem, as the quality of schools inside a city generally doesn't vary too much).

Re: Paris Mayor: It's Time for a '15-Minute City'

#115

Post by carlchenet »

The center of Paris is something like 13-14k€/square meter... The truth is Parisians with average revenues (for Parisians, not for French people) more and more live close to the suburbs (13th, 15th, 18th, 19th, 20th districts) around Paris and the center is full of company's head office, shops and restaurants. So the picture displayed in the article should figure inhabitations on the outside skirts and accommodations in the center.

At the national level, Parisians are an average really rich population and living inside Paris will continue to grow more and more difficult because living in Paris is nowadays a luxury. And nothing will change this situation in a close future.

Re: Paris Mayor: It's Time for a '15-Minute City'

#116

Post by yardie »

peignoir wrote: post #94
pi-err wrote: post #69

I live in Paris and whatever you think of the current mayor, this is pure marketing babble for the elections next month. Paris has always had this very dense city core where 99% of daily life is 5-10’ away. It’s a great concept for dense metropoles, but it only works because the city is so small: 100 square kilometers in an ocean of much lesser density. 80% of “Greater Parisians” live outside Paris itself. Unfortunat…

+1 The elections are coming soon and the current mayor is just doubling down on promesses (while Paris is great on paper the past couple of years did feel like chaos from my point of view)

I feel the last few years of chaos has less to do with the mayor and more to do with the national legislation. The mayor is not negotiating pensions and fuel taxes. Which is where most of these protests are about. It can both be true that Paris is a well run city with a president who invites protest every week.

Re: Paris Mayor: It's Time for a '15-Minute City'

#117

Post by uinerkrj »

Cities are terrible places to live. To prove my point, can you walk to a natural area (beach, forest, mountain, etc) within 15 minutes? Of course not, other than maybe a tiny manicured park full of people. That "green area" pictured in the diagram will be the only green area, it will be a flat park of some sort, and it will be your only choice of place to visit. It will be more like a museum for trees than any kind of natural habitat.

That doesn't meet anybodies "needs". This is all just dressing up ways to reduce the costs of humans. Governments are just a collection of large companies (their controllers), who run the world the same as if it is a business. The citizens of the city are a cost, and these are marketing campaigns to get them to accept cost reduction measures.

Also, as I am getting downvoted, I may as well point out that Paris itself is an especially terrible place to live. In fact, I don't know many parisians that live there, and I have never met anybody that likes it. HN obsession with density and walking is hilarious.

Re: Paris Mayor: It's Time for a '15-Minute City'

#118

Post by lotsofpulp »

keiferski wrote: post #40
jasonkester wrote: post #32

In contrast, I’ve always considered Los Angeles to be a “45 Minute City”, but by car. Everything you need is a 45 minute drive from wherever you are now. The beach is 45 minutes away. It’s 45 minutes to work. Your friends are each about 45 minutes away, in different directions, and the downtown bar you meet at on Friday night is 45 minutes away. You can even get out into the mountains on angel crest highway in about…

And then there’s NYC - The $20 City. Any time you step outside of your apartment, you’ll inevitably spend $20 on something.

$20 per hour at least.

Re: Paris Mayor: It's Time for a '15-Minute City'

#120

Post by jackjeff »

pi-err wrote: post #69

I live in Paris and whatever you think of the current mayor, this is pure marketing babble for the elections next month. Paris has always had this very dense city core where 99% of daily life is 5-10’ away. It’s a great concept for dense metropoles, but it only works because the city is so small: 100 square kilometers in an ocean of much lesser density. 80% of “Greater Parisians” live outside Paris itself. Unfortunat…

What is considered to be Paris (100km2) is a lot smaller than what people consider to be London (1500km2) or NYC (800km2 of land).

Yes. If you’re rich enough and can afford to live in Paris everything is about 15mins away.

If you leave “outside” then be ready for commutes that get proportionally cheaper as travel distance increase. A commute time of one hour or less is considered good. It’s not rare for people to commute for 2 hours or more, for each trip.

The problem is that the mayor of Paris is elected to represent the wishes of the privileged few that live in the center and cares little about commuters.

The anti-car attitude of the current Mayor (Mrs Hidalgo) reflects this. And if you look carefully at the data it looks like air pollution has reduced in areas where cars were removed but has increased elsewhere. It’s hardly a win for air pollution, but if you live in Paris the river side is now for pedestrians and not cars. So yeah. Real nice, if you can afford to live there.

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