CHAPTER 19: THE DYNAMICS OF REGIONS (4) 19.2 The Paris city region
The Paris city region The sprawling city of Paris is home to 10 million people. Paris dominates all aspects of French economic and social life. It is a primate city. In this case, the next largest city is Marseilles. Paris is the centre of decision making, employment and cultural activities in France. Today, it contains 20% of the national workforce. The growth of Paris has slowed the development of other towns and cities in the
region. People and business prefer to be in or close to Paris. As a result, urban planners have had to encourage the growth of the surrounding
towns and control the growth of Paris. Dublin city and county planners are facing a similar challenge.
Reasons for the growth of Paris:
1. It is a bridging point across the River Seine. 2. It is in the centre of the fertile floodplain of the River Seine and limon-covered Paris Basin.
3. It is the focus of road and rail routes in France. 4. It is the capital city. 5. It is the focus of industrial development. 6. It has a long tradition in craftmaking and the textiles industry.
7. It is a centre of in-migration.
A policy to control the growth of Paris The Schéma Directeur
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Paris city suffered fromovercrowding; traffic congestion; air,water, noise and visual pollution; inner-city decay and urban sprawl. In 1965, city planners published a major plan called
the Schéma Directeur to accommodate the expected population growth to 14 million by the twenty-first century.
DID YOU KNOW? Paris and its suburbs is the largest melting pot in France with an immigrant population of some 1.3 million people.
Fig. 17 Paris is a route focus
Fig. 18 La Défense - an important business centre in Paris