Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-02-09
Paris Pa IS, Outstripping
All Plans For
Her Growth


OF guiding the growth of Crentnr
iarls presents. according to Eronch
arcliitects, one of the worlds mos
oo,hpieX puzzles in city planning
IarlS Is like a woman who wants
10 ioliow the fashions, but thrv
Grunge So rapidly she cannot make
up her mind which ones to adopt. q"
explained NJ. BONNER, chief of the
Paris. ''''on VI
iarls mas been crowded out of he,
olu UNITS, like London and New
YORK during the past fifteen years
IN TACT Greater Paris exists TODAY
oul not on paper. No less than
twenty plans have been drawn 70,
'he siupendous task of guiding this
Slo"'h. ana SO far not one has been
adopted. 10 execute any of them
would cost approximately half a
nillion dollars. and just now Paris
has not got that sum.
rams IN 1928 is easily the third
city OF the world. and spreading ia,
out OF the country by leaps and
bounds. Spectators are buying
Wherever they can land for resi-
depceS. land for factories and land
LOT the new port connecting Paris
with the sea by making use of tho
river Seine.
Actually Paris has a population
nearing the five million mark, il
count is taken of the fact that tho
city has pushed its suburbs twelve
in'ies' on an average. from Notre
Dame Cathedral. the point from
Willch distances are measured. Of
llclailE IN 1921 the population of the
city proper was 2.906.47o. for that
part of Paris contained within the
Old encirclinS Notifications.
Inc eNtenSon of Paris presents the
Triple problem of Chicago, New York
and Washington, according to local
architects. For instance. Paris is a
political capital. like Washington
and must therefore be kept beautiful
But she is at the same time the
greatest manufacturing trading and
railroad center of France. like Chi
caGo and New York. and she has
many of the problems OF these cities
Likewise. Paris is Il vast educational
center. How to CO. ordinate all thcs.
conflicting clements, preserve he,
ancient traditions. and still so ahead
is the difficulty of those trying tC
guide her growth.
y unique theory in city planning
is advanced by Architect Bonnier,
I'VE must not set any hard and fast
plan to force the development of tn,
city he maintains. beyond keep
ing the suburban lines OF traffic. anG
the big national roads. opened anC
extended. and saving park space as
the city races towards the country
NO one can foreSee our future.
he argues Paris, for instance. was
never supposed to be a manufacture
ing center. Yet today automobiles and
thousands of other things are made
here. suppose we plan space fol
these factories, and tomorrow they
pick up and move fifty miles alvey
Where are we? Five years from now
the population of Paris may he
housed hundred miles out. and ride
to business in airplanes. Then.
ask again. where are our expensive
but empty city dwellings,?
From the point of view beauty
ard grandeur, the Avenue des
Champs Elysees is regarded as the
finest street in the world"
But it is a natural growth il
vas never pre-arranged. 1t was
originally a part OF the forest OF
Rouvray, that came to the very doors
CT the little city Paris was IN those
days. The royal families living in
the Louvre used it as an exit tC
their country homes at Saint Ger
main and Versailles. and gradually
the road was preserved. AS the city
grow no one took the trouble tc
build too near the road. and finally
it was preserved and bcautificd
&c 90 ,.iI do, W.
last line of the old city Notifications
and making streets of them. This
new space will vastly improve the
working living quarters both inside
and outside the actual city limits
These fortification spaces have ar
average width of $50 yards, and are
, 20 miles long.
The creation of a larger city in
! wolves various legal changes which
would have to be passed upon by
parliament, but as yet this aspect
of the situation is in allegiance.
Meanwhile the extension work is
going on under the project of the
Seine. One plan contemplates the
use of the twenty forts ten or moro
miles from the center of Paris. now
useless for military purposes, as
| parks and Fairgrounds. Another is
to construct a broad highway, begin
! nlng where the Champs Elysees
! terminates at the Etoile monument
! for a distance of twenty miles to the
! forest Of Saint German. Other plans
| include the erection of q mode
country town at Plessy- Robinson. tho
| Port of Paris at Gennevillers, the
removal of railway terminals from
! the center of the city, and the OK