Paris’ mayor, Anne Hidalgo, is incredibly unpopular in the rest of the Parisian Metropolitan Area (whose government is right-wing under Valérie Pécresse). Much of these areas are still car-dependent beyond belief with bad-to-awful public transit, meaning they are progressively getting cut-off from car-hostile Paris. Paris is completely unaffordable to live in, so it is normal for the working class to have a 1h+ commute into Paris.
This understandably breeds resentment from most people who have never heard of the term “induced demand” or think that the lack of rail transit it Hidalgo’s fault.
This is not just Paris too. France as a whole did not change municipality boundaries since WW2. So usually legal city is just what in the rest of Europe we would be the city center. You often can not really tell the difference between the city and a French “suburb” on a satellite picture.
As a result it is rather easy to kick cars out of the city, as the residents do not need them and are just annoying for them. It also leads to bad connections to the outer parts of what really is the city, which pisses off the residents and that leads them to vote facist.
Affordability is a really important part that is not talked about enough. Walkable cities are better for people and the environment but they need to be affordable for it to matter.
Because Paris is its own jurisdiction.
Paris’ mayor, Anne Hidalgo, is incredibly unpopular in the rest of the Parisian Metropolitan Area (whose government is right-wing under Valérie Pécresse). Much of these areas are still car-dependent beyond belief with bad-to-awful public transit, meaning they are progressively getting cut-off from car-hostile Paris. Paris is completely unaffordable to live in, so it is normal for the working class to have a 1h+ commute into Paris.
This understandably breeds resentment from most people who have never heard of the term “induced demand” or think that the lack of rail transit it Hidalgo’s fault.
This is not just Paris too. France as a whole did not change municipality boundaries since WW2. So usually legal city is just what in the rest of Europe we would be the city center. You often can not really tell the difference between the city and a French “suburb” on a satellite picture.
As a result it is rather easy to kick cars out of the city, as the residents do not need them and are just annoying for them. It also leads to bad connections to the outer parts of what really is the city, which pisses off the residents and that leads them to vote facist.
Affordability is a really important part that is not talked about enough. Walkable cities are better for people and the environment but they need to be affordable for it to matter.