User:Josefu/Work In Progress/Paris
Paris is the capital of France, located between the three most northerly points of the elongated hexagon formed by its country's coasts and borders. Having an ovoid shape widest along its west-east axis, the city of Paris lies, centred to the norward apex of an arc of the important Seine river. This waterway is dotted with a few islands along its path through the Capital, and the largest and most central of these, the Île de la Cité, is the heart and origin of Paris.
Paris' owes its name to its first people and perhaps its river location, as its first-known inhabitants were the "Parisii", a tribe whose name is similar to "of the river landing" in their ancient Celtic tongue. Paris has also become known worldwide as "the City of Lights" (la Ville Lumière) since, in 1828, it was the first city in Europe to brilliantly light its main boulevards with gas street-lamps, namely along its Champs-Elysées.
Paris is also the capital of its much-evolving île-de-France suburb région, itself accounting for over 25% of France's domestic GDP. It also has a strong position in the international community, hosting the headquarters of the OECD and UNESCO (amongst others). Because of its financial, business, political, and tourism activities, Paris is one of the major transportation hubs in the world; New York, London, Tokyo, and Paris are often listed as the four major global cities.
Geographical Situation
Longitude and Latitude
Paris' geographical centre is located at 48° 52′ 00″ N, 2° 19′ 59″ E (48.866667, 2.333056).
Terrain Occupied
The city (commune) of Paris has an area of 105.398 km² (40.69 mi², or 26,044 acres). Excluding the outlying parks of Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes, the actual area of the city is only 86.928 km² (33.56 mi², or 21,480 acres).
Paris' perimeter has remained practically unchanged since the mid-19th century, and is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. This is because of the formidable physical landmarks separating it from its suburbs since then; First surrounded by a solid line of fortifications since 1845, this limitation grew slightly, upon the wall's 1924 destruction, to the outside of the empty "no-construction" zone outside them. This purely administrative frontier was again transformed into a physical barrier with the construction, from 1973, of the "périphérique" expressway that encloses Paris today. To the outside of these limits, the bois de Vincennes and bois de Boulogne forest parklands, annexed to the City from 1929, are purely cosmetic additions that today in no way affect the function of the city itself, but La Défense, a business district antenna added well to the western outskirts of Paris from 1983, is today an important and integral part of the City and its economy.
For a more detailed account of Paris' expansion please see Paris History.
Altitude
The altitude of Paris varies, with several prominent hills :
- Montmartre 130 m (425 ft) Above Sea Level
- Belleville 128 m (420 ft) ASL
- Menilmontant 108 m (354 ft) ASL
- Buttes-Chaumont 80 m (269 ft) ASL
- Passy 71 m (233 ft) ASL
- Chaillot 67 m (220 ft) ASL
- Montagne Ste-Geneviève 61 m (200 ft) ASL
- Butte-aux-Cailles 62m (203 ft) ASL
- Montparnasse 66 m (217 ft) ASL
The hill of Montparnasse was levelled in the 18th century.
Climate
Paris enjoys a temperate climate which varies on average between 3.5ºC at its coldest in January and February and 29.5ºC in the hottest months of July and August. Its location in a geological bowl formation generally spares it from strong winds and other harsh weather. These conditions, mixed with the city's high concentration of architecture and civil constructions, give it a slower-changing temperature often one or two degrees superior or inferior to the surrounding suburbs. To date, the lowest temperature recorded was minus 23.9ºC on the 10th of December 1879, and the highest ever reached was 40.4ºC on July 27, 1947.
Administration
City Administration
Paris, aside from a few brief years in its history, has never had an administration of its own before the late 20th century. Under crown rule since its beginnings, it was only under Napoleon Bonaparte that it became the capital of a "préfecture" jurisdiction covering Paris and a much larger surrounding region. It was only from 1977 that Paris had a Mayor and administration with a jurisdiction no larger than the city itself.
Paris' administration has been levied of some powers normally vested in the mayor of other French cities, as the policing of the city (to name one exception) is the responsibility of a division of the national government under a Prefect of Police. Because of this, Paris has no municipal police force, though it has some traffic wardens. This peculiar situation is a beureaucratic remnant from times that Paris had no mayor and was essentially run by a prefectoral administration.
The City of Paris is today divided into twenty "arrondissement" jurisdictions, each with its own local government and town hall. As the name indicates, these, beginning with the western end of its "la Cité" island, describe successively a clockwise-drawn spiral ending in its 20th arrondissement to its easternmost extremity. Each of these arrondissments is itself divided into four quarters, each named for its most prominent landmarks.
Citizens of Paris elect in each arrondissement some municipal council members. Each arrondissement has its own council, which elects the mayor of the arrondissement. Selected members from each arrondissement council together form the Council of Paris. The Council of Paris in turn elects the mayor of Paris, and also has the double function of a municipal council and a general département council. This seemingly complicated jurisdictional situation is also a remnant of administrations from decades before.
Paris in France's Administration
Paris is more than the capital of its country. France is divided into 92 "département", and Paris, number 75 in an alphabetical list of these, in taking its number of apparition as its appellation, is a "département" unto itself.as a part of a vast decentralisation scheme (voted in 1982 and effective from 1986) dividing France into 24 self-administered régions, Paris became the capital of its own "Île-de-France" région englobing itself and seven of its neighbouring départements. "Commune" is another smaller French administrative subdivision, and Paris is also to itself one of these. Lastly, France groups its départements into larger "région" jurisdictions, and Paris is the capital of its "île-de-France" région embracing the eight départements around it.
Economy
Speaking of Paris' economy is no simple task, and it has since always been necessary to delve into its suburbs to do so. In a tendency that began in even medieval times, although the city proper had its commerce centre (Les Halles), financial district (Pont au Change) and luxury goods artisans (grouped by specialty through many quarters), the city's heavier and more pollutive industries were always outside them (the Left Bank's Bievre river tissue industry, later its Right Bank Faubourg Saint-Antoine furniture industry), of course as were the Capital's agricultural resources.
Industrial Dispersion
Today's Paris proper has has little industry save for its wholesale sentier clothes industry, and even its wholesale meat and produce markets have left the city for the town of Rungis to its south-east. Paris has largely become a city of "tertiaire" trades (commerce, finance, transport, services and administration amongst others). In fact today, because of Paris' many transport arteries, Paris' city-serving or city-dependant industries and services are no longer constrained to a location near the capital, and are widely dispersed through even distant locations all around. Nor do companies doing buisiness with Paris do so exclusively.
This trend is even encouraged. In an effort to regroup growth away from its Capital to France's other metropoles, in 1982 the government voted a plan to regroup the country's already-existing départements into self-administered "régions, in the process making Paris the centre and capital of its own Île-de-France région. Due to the greatly varying size and density of Paris' surrounding suburbs, the Île-de-France's seven départements were divided into two sub-regions: the smallest and densest departments sharing Paris' borders became the "petite couronne", and the more excentric, much larger and sparsely-populated four remaining were designated as its "grande couronne".
New Statistics
This did little to indicate Paris' actual worth though. Due to growing international trade, and in an attempt to make a economical statistical equivilant to the North American "metropolitan area" used to calculate a city's Gross Domestic Product, in 1990 the INSEE divised an "aire urbaine" apellation based on a mapping of high commuter activity around a city ("pole urbaine") or around any city that itself commutes with Paris. Most probably not by coincidence, Paris' "aire urbaine" covers almost exactly the Île-de-France région save a southern sliver. Based on this criteria, metropolitan Paris' GDP was set at US $497 billion in 2003 (source!). As for this number's attribution through Paris' Île-de-France région, in 2002 (source) it was divided almost equally between Paris, its petite couronne and its grande couronne.
Yet the above has little to do with the city of Paris' own GDP. If we can assume that the Capital and its closest "Petite couronne" suburbs share a highest economical interdependancy, even a number divised from adding the GDP of Paris to its petite couronne cannot ring true for many reasons: no longer do Paris' suburban companies rarely do business exclusively in the Capital (or in this light, even in France); to the opposite end of the scale, although many of the île-de-France's companies have their head office siége sociale in Paris, many don't operate or employ anywhere near the capital. Even with a new statistical makeup, we can only get a vague idea of where Paris' real GDP lies.
Paris, City of Trade
Paris' GDP ambiguity only serves to underline its new importance as a city of international trade. France's banks no longer do business exclusively within its borders, and many of its companies today have affiliates in other European countries. Paris' role as a city in the new Europe is still in full evolution, as it fell short (if only by a hair) of becoming Europe's monetary capital in favour of Frankfurt; Today Europe's agricultural decisions and exchanges have Brussels for their centre (which affects even the Île-de-France vis-a-vis Paris as much of its grande couronne is farmland). Paris is also an international showcase for technologies, trade and techniques through its Porte de Versailles, Palais de Congrés and Roissy's Parc des Expositions, and, thanks to its constantly improving transport hubs and system, bringing even more attention, capital and investment to the city economy.
Tourism
Tourism, of course, is the icing on Paris' economy cake. From its Universal Exposition years, themselves fueled by the very beginnings of transport technology, Paris has risen to become the most-visited city in the world. The capital seems to be between two trends today: most of its monuments and establishments famed for their history or "Parisian nostalgia" have been preserved and restored, and millions invested to this end; on the other, Paris has had many new "chain" restaurants, hotels and stores catering to a tourist's already-established tastes.
Source: World Tourism Organization (WTO). [www.world-tourism.org]
Population
Growth and Density
Paris has a high population in spite of its relatively small size. Its population according to the last completed consensus (1999 - ) 2 125 851 habitants, making an average of 20,164 inhabitants per square kilometre. This is quite dense in the light that Paris has few of the towering skyscrapers other metropolises have; This is because the average Parisian living space occupied per habitation (thus per person) is smaller (statistic) than in most other cities. This standard varies enormously from quarter to quarter, but the capital is its densest (in decreasing order of density) in its central to north-eastern eleventh, tenth and twentieth arrondissments. Its sparsest quarters are towards its centre and are (in increasing order) its first, eighth, seventh and fourth arrondissements.
Paris' population is not at its highest today, as it reached its 2,891,020 peak in 1931. Because of the depression and the Second World War, its population went into a steady (but slow) decline from then, with only a brief bump in 1954. Though the 2004 consensus (the first since 1999) is not yet complete, predictions show that the capital has shown its first gain in population since then.
Immigration
A former colonial power over five continents, the majority of France's (thus Paris') immigration has the territories it formerly occupied in Northern Africa, Africa and Martinique islands (DOM-TOM) as a source. The latter is still a French territory today. A close second is a large influx of, specialising in the restaurant and textile industries, Chinese nationals. Of course Paris' reputation for Arts, gastronomy, fashion and tourism is an indiscriminate magnet for an immigration from the world over.
According to the 1999 census, 19.4% of the total population of the metropolitan area were born outside of metropolitan France. Today Paris is one of the most multi-cultural cities in Europe.
http://www.insee.fr/fr/home/home_page.asp
Transportation
As far as its connections to the rest of its country is concerned, Paris is truly the centre of France. It became the centre of a "star" from 1791 with the construction of a network of national roadways stretching out from the capital to all the nation's coasts and borders and, from the mid-19th century, developed a similar "star" of railway connecting Paris to all of France. Air travel, the inseparable from Paris' tourism industry, would open Paris to the world from the early 20th century. From the 19**, a new "Autoroute" network of high-speed highways began to make Paris yet again a pole from which spread yet another rapid form of travel.
National and International Air Travel Hubs
Paris' had its first "airport" in the fields of Issy-les-Moulinaux (just to the southern limits of Paris by its Seine river's Left Bank) from the first aviation trials of 1908. Aviation became a serious mode of transport during the course of the first world war, which in 1915 led to the installation of a larger and more permanent runway installation near the town of Le Bourget to the north of Paris. A yet larger airport to the south of the Capital, Orly, began welcoming flights from 1945, and yet another airport to the north of the City, Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle, opened its gates from 1974.
Today the former airfields of Issy-les-Moulineaux have become a Heliport annex of Paris, and Le Bourget an airfield reserved for smaller aircraft. Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle takes the majority of international flights to and from Paris, and Orly is a host to mostly domestic and European airline companies.
National and International Rail Connections
Paris' first train stations began to appear from 1834 with its Paris-à-Saint-Germain "embarcadère", the predecessor to today's Gare Saint-Lazare. Four other national railway stations (and two other shorter lines) would appear over the next ten years, and from 1848 Paris began to become the centre of a government-drawn "Étoile" (star) network of railway to all reaches of France. This pattern is still very visible in France's modern railway map.
Paradoxically, as far as national and European destinations are concerned, rail has outdistanced air travel in both travel time and efficiency. The SNCF's TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) network, constantly developing since its birth in 1981, today brings France's most southerly Marseille only 3 hours from the capital. A train similar to the TGV, the Eurostar, has been connecting Paris to central London through 2h 35 of rail since 1994.
Commuter Transportation
RER
The RER (Réseaux Express Regional) is a large-calibre métro that runs far into the French countryside with only a few stops within the capital. Begun with its first line A in 1977, today there are five lines, A, B, C, D and E: Three (A, B, and D) pass through Paris' largest and most central Châtelet-Les-Halles metro station, and two, lines C and E, run respectively along Paris' Rive Gauche quai and to the north-eastern suburbs from Paris' gare Saint-Lazare train station.
Trancilien and TER
These are local train lines connecting Paris' main stations (five in all) to regions at all distances outside the Capital. The "Trancilien" lines are named as a play-on-words for the "transit" of the "Francilien" which are the inhabitants of the "Île-de-France" region of which Paris is the capital. The TER (Train Express Régional) is similar, but covers a larger region with fewer stops towards the capital.
Public City Transportation
The horse-drawn "Omnibus" became Paris' first form of public transportation from 1828. The horse-drawn tramway was next to appear from 1871; as for motorised transport, steam-driven trams appeared from 1880 before being replaced by the electric tramway from 1888. The first attempt at local rail transportation appeared when the "Chemin de fer de la Petite Ceinture" was open to passengers from 1875, but was outmoded in favour of the métro (the first porte de Vincennes-porte de Maillot line) appearing from the 19th of July 1900. From 1905 the tramway began to disappear in favour of the motor-driven bus, but the "tram" has begun very recently to make a re-apparition around Paris. For a more complete history of Paris' various forms of public transport, please see Paris Public Transport.
Just to note - the Bus, Metro and Tramway are part of the RATP (Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens), the government-subsidised company whose jurisdiction covers all transport touching the Parisian Capital. The RER, Transilien and TER networks are run by the SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français), the state-owned train company whose rail network covers all of France.
Le Bus
Paris' Bus lines are its most developed form of transport, connecting all points of the capital to each other as well as deep into its closest suburban cities. There are a total of 58 bus lines operating in Paris that have a terminus within city limits.
The capital's bus system has been given a major boost over the past decade. Beginning in early 2000, Paris' major arteries have been thinned to reserve an "express" lane reserved only for bus and taxi, and more recently, these lanes (and new ones) have been isolated from the rest of regular circulation through concrete barriers forming "couloirs" which prevent all other Paris circulation.
Le Métro
Paris' first metro lines ran only as far as the city's limits, and this is a problem that is still being remedied today. After over one hundred years, the capital now has 14 lines (not including two shorter "navette" (point-to-point line) and the Montmartre funicular), 12 of which penetrate will into the surrounding suburbs (as two, lines 2 and 6, form a circle within Paris). The metro today still lacks a connection around its outer rim between its capital-bisecting lines, an installation that would facilitate communication with the outlying suburbs, but there does exist a bus line (the PC line) that for the time being more or less fulfils this purpose.
Le Tram
As mentioned above, the tramway has begun to return to the Parisian scenery in recent years. Already there exist two lines (the T1 and T2) running parallel to the outside limits of the capital. Begun in 2003, and destined for completion in early 2006, a new tram line (the T3) will run the whole length of Paris' Left Bank "boulevard éxterieur" (the roadway that once ran to the inside of Paris' former fortifications).
source: http://www.ratp.fr - http://www.sncf.fr
City Life
Every city works in different ways, and Paris is special in many of its functions. Although a thriving city, it has sacrificed little of its cultural, architectural and gastrinomical particularities to the melting pot of modern times - if anything, globalisation has but added new diversity to Paris' already many ingredients, and technology but facilitatites and speeds the function of a city whose habits and mannerisms have been centuries in the making. Below are a few features of city life, their functioning, and what role they play in the Paris of today.
Produce
Today Paris' produce today comes from much further distances than in years only decades ago, but its fresh produce is distributed through a system remaining practically unchanged since medieval times. Its market heart was its former Les Halles marketplace that stood to its Rive Droite to the north of its central Islands: it was here that produce would arrive to the capital from all regions of France, where it was sold "en gros" (wholesale) or "en detail" (retail, through street and boutique merchants). Also feeding the market then were the fields of "small gardeners" ("maraichiers") located for the most part to Paris' outer unsettled regions. This system would remeain unchanged for over eight centuries, until in 1977 Paris' Les Halles wholesale marketplace was moved to the south-eastern town of Rungis and its market halls halls destroyed. The supermarket is a standard in all of Paris' quarters, yet Paris' many squares still hold open-air markets (usually three days out of every week); Today the Rungis wholesale centre, a market complex large enough to be considered a town almost unto itself, is the provider for all Paris' produce, all forms of retail confounded. Also relocated to Rungis in the same year as the Les Halles marketplace were the La Villette abattoirs, Paris' principal source of meat and its by-products.
Paris also had a thriving industrial food district (chocolats Meunier, other Est's) around its north-eastern La Villette quarter (XIXe arrondissement) from the early 19th century, but this has since also been relocated for suburban regions.
Industry
France has since forever has prided itself in the skills of its artisans, and Paris was no exception as the source of its best craftsmanship. Once there were small factories ("fabriques"), workshops and ateliers in every quarter of the capital, and each had its own speciality, but few of these remain today. In reality Paris' only remaining "atelier" production is its clothes industry located in its "sentier" quarter spread throughout the quarters to the north of its Les Halles district. Rather than leaving for the suburbs like the rest of the city's' industry, Paris' smaller trades faded, unable to compete with the mass-production capabilities of the 19th-century industrial revolution.
Larger industries filled Paris' outer regions while they were still uninhabited, namely in its XV, XVII, XVIII and XIX arrondissements, but these were forced to the suburbs as well, save for the factories of Citroen, but the early 20th century. All of these quarters are being transformed into residential and commercial districts today.
Commerce
The majority of Paris' streets are fronted with smaller street-side stores and boutiques, and most Parisians buy their goods through small-surface stores such as these. Since the mid 1970's, France's specialised local production has begun to give way to cheaper goods made in countries afar. Butchers sell meat through Boucheries, fruits and vegetables as "marchands de fruits et legumes", drugs sold through "pharmacies", sewing goods through "mercieries", just to name a few. Okay this needs some work too
Although Paris was even the 19th-century inventor of the "grande surface" department store, these (le Bon Marché, Galeries Lafayette, Printemps, le BHV, all still existing today) are still relatively few today. In fact, at their origin these stores were in reality little more than a large covered surface, over several floors, renting space to independently-run stands that sold their wares in the traditional "boutique" French way. The Bon Marché was the first to unify their surface, deal directly with factories, and offer fixed prices, and other stores soon followed suit. Yet even today, although the supermarket is well-integrated into local life, large-scale shopping malls, superstores and mega-stores appear only in outer Paris and its suburbs.
Restaurants and Cafés
Paris owes the importance of its massive restaurant industry to the ethnic diversity of its inhabitants. At first "speciality cuisine" was limited to the many regions of France, as many of Paris' residents had their origins there, but with travel technology, universal expositions and tourism, it began to diversify to the countries of its visitors. Also appearing in the early 19th century was the large-scale "Bistrot" catering firstly to those seeking a quick meal, and later to those enjoying a grandiose and decorative surroundings. The Champs-Elysées' "Le Dome" and Montparnasse's "La Coupole" were but two of these. Luxury restaurants of course have always had their place, and trendy "Nouveau Cuisine" establishments were a late-20th century addition. Unfortunately today, in spite of its positively enormous choice of ethnic specialities, Paris' restaurant industry is in a bit of a slump. This may be due to to an overall homogenisation, or perhaps because of the post-1980's apparition of chain restaurants geared to businessmen and tourists.
Cafés are still an integral part of Parisian life as a place to stop on the way to or from work, or as a place to meet other locals. Unfortunately this as well is a trend that is fading, more than likely because of the ageing of the generation ingrained with this tradition. The fact that many of today's Parisian inhabitants are recent arrivals from countries diverse and afar would also mean a drop in the café's social importance in local Parisian life. Today many cafés are switching their sights to tourism.
Night Life
Paris' night life of myth is but a shadow of what it once was. Although most modern "Cabarets" have their origins in 19th-century clubs geared to real Parisian divertissement, such as "les Elysées Montmartre" and "la Reine Blanche", it was the last of these, the "Moulin Rouge" appearing in 1889, that began to change its venue for tourism after Paris' greatest Universal Expositions. All of Paris' cabarets are such today, and Parisians rarely visit them.
Some remnants can still be found of Paris' 1950's-60's Saint-Germain Jazz culture ("les Cinq Maillets"), and its discotheques today rapidly go in and out of vogue. In all, Paris' nightlife has been in a steady decline since the early 1990's.
Tourism
Tourism is the icing on Paris' cake, and has existed on a large scale only since the early 20th century. Paris' Universal Expositions were perhaps the source of this: from its post-1789 revolution origins as a sort of National trade show, it developed through the late 19th century to become the international "Epcot Centre"-like amusement park attraction it was at its peak in 1900.
Of course the capital poured by short-term visitors into the economy of Paris was more than enticing to Parisian merchants and entertainers. Not only did many establishments begin to set their sights towards the pleasure of those just visiting, but the government as well began to open museums (and modify those existing) as an attraction for sightseers. Even today, the government is investing even national tax revenue in the embellishment of France's Capital.
Investment in Paris' tourism sector has been massive to say the least. Today many international companies have implanted travel agencies, hotels, tours and even restaurants geared to the taste of the greater foreign traveller. As mentioned earlier, even the city's smaller clubs, cafés and commerce have turned their sights to tourism, with the unfortunate result of an overall homogenisation of chain restaurants and "typed" establishments of a style whose origins are perhaps "trendy" but not at all French. In fact much of today's Parisian establishments have come to rely on tourism, creating an economical and cultural "hole" when, as such places have adopted a style or menu unattractive to Parisians, visitor numbers dwindle.
Other Wiki Articles Concerning Paris
Paris Demographics
Paris Demographics - The population of Paris and its evolution and its distribution throughout the captial.
Paris Districts - Based on modern function more than jurisdiction, the different quarters of Paris and their centres of activity and interest
Paris Architecture
Paris Monuments - an exhaustive list of Paris' monuments and major architecture
Paris Parks - Paris' "green spaces" and their creation
Paris Cemeteries - a listing of Paris former and existing cemeteries
Paris History
Paris History - the history of the city that is Paris
Paris Chronology - a listing, in chronological order, of important events through Paris' history
Paris Economy
Paris Economy - The trades that drive Paris, and the riches it channels
Paris Economical Statistics - a complete and comparative statistical makeup of Paris economy
Paris / Île-de-France
Ile de France - A description of the greater region around Paris and all it contains
Paris GDP - Combined with that of the capital itself, an outline of the greater île-de-France industrial product