The new towns around Paris 40 years later: New dynamic centralities or suburbs facing risk of marginalisation?

Abstract

Launched in the middle of the 1960s, the Paris region master plan (SDAU de la région Parisienne) deeply changed the structure of the largest French agglomeration: five new towns were created in order to solve various problems in terms of urban amenities and economic development. Located in the urban fringes, they were supposed to help reorganise the whole agglomeration following a polycentric model. This decision was a strong break with the past for this very monocentric city of Paris. At first, the success of the project depended directly on State support. After that, the new towns became more autonomous, generating their own attractiveness. Forty years later, even if the process is not yet totally finished, it is possible to evaluate the consequences of this vast scheme. To begin with, the demographic weight of the new towns is not as important as initially expected: in 2010, they represented 7.9% of the population of the whole agglomeration. Their economic weight is similar, representing less than 7.7% of the agglomeration. Nevertheless, the new towns concentrate a large quantity of diversified jobs and they succeed in attracting firms in different activity sectors, even if each of them does not present the same advantages. These elements tend to show that the new towns have partly reached their initial goals. Consequently, the new towns have contributed in improving the socio-spatial organisation of the Paris suburbs. However, the recent urban policy for the Paris agglomeration called the ‘Grand Paris’ does not integrate the new towns, and this raises many questions for the future of these territories.