Paris: A brighter city of light

by Martin Wolf, Léo Fauconnet, Paul Lecroart

Paris is the greatest tourist destination in the world, renowned for beautiful buildings that hark back to urban developments from long ago. But for those who live there, the last 40 years have seen major changes, particularly in transport and housing. The population of the Paris Region (Île-de-France) increased by 20% from 9.9 million inhabitants in 1975 to 12 million in 2015. During this period, 1.7 million housing units were built and 1.5 million jobs created. As the urban, demographic and economic landscapes changed, public policies tried to adapt public investment to this new context. This essay tracks the policies behind those shifts – and looks at how the future is shaping up for the City of Light.

46 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 18, 2019

About the author

Martin Wolf is associate editor and chief economics commentator at the Financial Times, London. He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 2000 for services to financial journalism. Wolf won the Overseas Press Club of America’s prize for Best Commentary in 2013 and the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award at the Gerald Loeb Awards. He was a member of the UK’s Independent Commission on Banking in 2010-11. Wolf is the author of The Shifts and The Shocks: What We’ve Learned— and Have Still to Learn—from the Financial Crisis.