Streetfilms: Paris goes all in on streets designed for safety, comfort & convenience
People usually herald the Netherlands as the pinnacle of people-centered, micromobility-focused streets. But in recent years, Paris, France is giving them a run for their money. Mayor Hidalgo and the City of Paris have a bold strategy for the future of Paris and they’re getting to work swiftly implementing a variety of treatments on streets across the City of Lights. Streetfilms was fortunate to visit Paris in the summer of 2022 & fall of 2023 to see the transformation firsthand; it really is impressive and enviable! Below are a selection from the dozen videos I’ve produced on those trips which highlight everything from the incredibly wide bike lanes they’ve prioritized to the enhanced pedestrian realm to their rapidly expanding school streets program which should be held up as a best practice and implemented worldwide. Enjoy!
Paris School Streets: Safe for Children, Safe for Everyone (2024)
Without a doubt, Paris’s school streets initiative is one of the most ambitious I’ve ever seen. Streets near 300 Paris schools have gone car-free, making students’ journeys to class safer while providing a natural space for outdoor activities and socializing before and after school. Astonishingly, because the program began in earnest during the pandemic, not quite much video documentation has been done. Streetfilms decided it was time the world had a look at the way Paris is designing for and caring for its youngest residents. For those of us with shorter attention spans, there’s a two minute express version of this one.
Paris vs NYC: What It's Like to Bike (2022)
Of course much of the accolades you hear out of Paris are about the newest luxurious bike lanes! And they are pretty phenomenal. Some are so wide they might cause spontaneous laughter and joy, as I experienced on my first ride on the Rue de Rivoli. But after I returned home, I realized many other NYC residents in my social media circle had also recently visited Paris. So I thought rather than just show off the divine bike lanes, a better approach was to directly contrast cramped New York City riding with what these lucky folks experience in Paris.
See Many of Paris' Newest Bike Lanes (2023)
As mentioned previously, there’s such an incredible speed of installation and change happening in Paris the last few years. Part of that is motivated by the 2024 Summer Olympics being imminent and wanting to provide an impressive, beautiful city to visitors. But the unwavering commitment to improving the public realm is central to the City’s current philosophy. I visited Paris twice, about a year apart, and I got to see new bike lanes that weren’t there the first time – in one case a separated bike path with islands was moved to the other side of the street! This film shows the newest ones I rode in fall 2023.
Paris-Plages Turns 20: Fred Kent Tells Us Why That’s So Important (2022)
My hotel was right near Paris-Plages beach along the Seine so I visited there frequently. When I returned home to NYC I scheduled a meet up with Fred Kent, founder of Project for Public Spaces and a pioneer of
placemaking for the last fifty years. He told me in this short interview about why closing part of a highway in the summer, along Paris’s most famous river, marked the beginning of Parisians seeing the streets of their city in a different light.
Paris Bike Ride with Stein van Oosteren (2022)
I’d be remiss if I didn’t include this gem as well. Stein was so very gracious with his time: touring the city with me for hours and showing off how some of Paris’ biking evolution came to be. And it was hot: later this day, the temperature nearly hit 100 degrees.
Please share this Paris public realm primer with colleagues, neighbors and your elected official… you could even host a screening! Note this isn’t all of our Streetfilms from Paris. For the full slate you can go to the Youtube playlist below which will let you watch them all.
