Celebrating the Olympic Games for the first time in 100 years, Paris, which has built history as the capital of France since the Middle Ages, is transforming into a new look. Parisians complain that “the whole city is a construction site,” but they express their expectations for the “new Paris” as the new face of Paris is gradually revealed as the city heads towards the opening ceremony of the Olympics in July. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said on the 23rd, “Through these Olympic Games, those who visit Paris for the first time in a long time will be surprised,” and added, “We will show a new Paris that is vibrant and neatly organized with culture and culture. art.”
Through this Olympic Games, the city of Paris is doing extensive urban regeneration work. A representative example is the development of the northern outskirts of Paris, which has been recognized as an underdeveloped area, where crime is committed, with a high concentration of Middle Eastern and African immigrants. A large athletes’ village and a state-of-the-art swimming center were built in Saint-Denis, a banlieue area where immigrant riots were frequent. After the Olympic Games are over, it is expected to greatly change the atmosphere of the outskirts of Paris by acting as a residential-commercial complex that will attract a large number of young people and innovative companies in downtown Paris.
All new buildings built for these Olympic Games, including the athletes’ village in Saint-Denis, made the most of environmentally friendly materials and construction methods. A typical feature is that wood, rather than concrete, is used extensively as a building material. In particular, most of the temporary stadiums built at tourist attractions throughout Paris are made of wood. Parisi emphasized, “Basically, concrete is made by baking limestone, so it produces a lot of carbon dioxide, on the other hand, wood absorbs carbon during the process of growing trees and it easily recycled, so it is an excellent environmentally friendly material. .”
Those who have visited Paris in the past can point to the ‘transformation of Paris toilets’ which took place in conjunction with the Olympic Games as the biggest change. Paris, the ancient city, was famous for its lack of public toilets, a ‘product of modernity’, compared to its reputation as a tourist destination. Unlike Korea, Paris does not have restrooms in subway stations, and restrooms are hard to find in public places such as riverbanks. Because of this, the smell of urine wafts throughout the city, often breaking the mood. Accordingly, the city of Paris plans to build around 1,400 portable toilets on the Seine River, open employee toilets in subway stations and 100 storage toilets, while repairing around 40% of the existing 750 public toilets and installing additional urinals.
Attention is also given to changes in the River Seine, which is a symbol of Paris but has been banned from swimming since the 1920s due to poor water quality. The River Seine, beloved by Parisians (citizens of Paris), saying, “I can’t imagine Paris without this river,” was difficult to access because the river’s water was polluted, contrary to its image as a romantic attraction. With the Olympics as an opportunity, the city of Paris invested 1.4 billion euros (about 2.05 trillion won) to carry out a large-scale water quality improvement project, including the repair of sewage facilities, and transformed the River Seine into a ‘floating river.’ During the Olympic Games, the opening ceremony, river swimming, and three triathlon swimming competitions are held on the River Seine. The city of Paris said, “So far, the project is progressing well as expected,” and added, “We will check the water quality every day this summer and allow bathing and river swimming competitions be held on two out of three days. “
The Paris transport system is also expected to change significantly. The subway, regional rapid transit lines (RER), and bus lines were significantly expanded, and the number of cycle paths was greatly increased to 1,400 km, double the current length. Meanwhile, the parking fee for large vehicles such as sports utility vehicles (SUVs) in Paris has been increased to 18 euros (about 26,300 won) per hour, three times the previous amount, increasing the a lot of driving burden. The city government’s plan is to use the Olympics as an opportunity to make Paris a city that focuses on public transport, bicycles and pedestrians, rather than motor vehicles.
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