• ’A serious urban mistake’ : why Paris went sour on the new Gare du Nord | Cities | The Guardian

    https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/oct/10/a-serious-urban-mistake-why-paris-went-sour-on-the-new-gare-du-nord

    Ce qui est un peu drôle, c’est ce qu’en dit Groupe J.-P. Vernant
    @Gjpvernant sur Twitter

    Vu de l’étranger. Pourquoi le projet de privatisation de la Gare du Nord, transformée en vulgaire mall de shopping d’aéroport ne passe pas, ne peut pas passer et ne passera pas.

    Rigolo parce que le groupe Vernant dit presque que ce type d’évolution est « normal » pour les aéroport mais scandaleux pour les gares (en fait « s’est normalisé » pour les aéroports, cf. le projet de recherche « Duty Free Shop »). En réalité le processus de transformation de ces territoires procèdent des mêmes intentions, d’un même mouvement et sans doute d’un même pouvoir. On en reparlera.

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/b34f965ce5df67ba96214089e66f0f9be8434e36/52_8_1391_834/master/1391.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    As developers aim to turn France’s busiest train station into a gargantuan airport-style mall, Parisians fear for the local neighbourhood – and the station’s soul
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    Angelique Chrisafis

    Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
    @achrisafis

    Thu 10 Oct 2019 06.00 BST

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    The French government says the refit is the only way to cope with the number of passengers who will be using the rail hub by 2030.
    The French government says the refit is the only way to cope with the number of passengers who will be using the rail hub by 2030. Illustration: Valode & Pistre

    “When you tell people in Paris you live near the Gare du Nord, they usually grimace,” sighed Sarah, a French academic in her 50s who has lived on a narrow, traffic-choked street next to Europe’s busiest station for 30 years.

    “Architecturally, the station building is superb. But neighbourhoods around stations are never easy, wherever they are in the world.”

    Sarah is part of a local residents’ group that has found itself drawn into one of Paris’s biggest development battles in years. The state rail firm SNCF has joined with private developers and is poised to transform the Gare du Nord into a gargantuan €600m (£540m) shopping and office complex along the lines of an airport. The French government says the massive glass refit – which will chop up the station into walkways and mezzanine levels via 105 escalators – is the only way to cope with the staggering 900,000 passengers per day who will be using the rail hub by 2030.

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