High-rise Vision Sparks Paris Revolt

A dizzying controversy will grip the French capital this week as its mayor tries to convince recalcitrant Parisians of the beauty of high-rise buildings.

Two years after riots swept through the tower blocks of the Paris suburbs, mayor Bertrand Delanoe will unveil on Wednesday artists' impressions of skyscrapers planned for three areas within the capital's ring road. 'The drawings are just sketches. None of the plans will actually come to fruition,' claimed Socialist city planning councilor Jean-Pierre Caffet, in response to a survey in which 63 per cent of Parisians said they were opposed to high-rises.

But opposition politicians, led by Francoise de Panafieu who will challenge the Socialist Delanoe in elections in March, claim the authorities want to 'trick' Parisians by floating the idea and hoping it gains ground. Even the Greens, who are the Socialists' allies in power, are unhappy. Rene Dutrey, head of the Green group at the Council of Paris, said: 'I do not understand the approach. The city hall has shown us drawings and asked us whether we find the blocks beautiful. Before you choose packaging, you have to decide on content. Parisians need social housing and green spaces, not commercial centers near roads.'

On Wednesday, Delanoe is due to unveil drawings produced by 11 architects' firms from France, Germany, Spain and Austria. Among them is a project in the 18th district from Spanish partnership Abalos & Herreros for Porte de la Chapelle featuring a 171m-high block which is square at ground level and divides into four tubes halfway up.

Another, by French firm Brenac et Gonzalez, features three towers, each exceeding 100m. In a plan for the Massena-Bruneseau area in the 13th district, architect Jacques Ferrier proposes three golden 'ecological towers' of up to 40 storys stretching 150m into the sky. All the proposals are dwarfed by the 275m Eiffel Tower but are nevertheless in breach of a bylaw that sets a maximum inner-city building height of 37m.

'The law was pushed through by Delanoe last year, but he took care to give himself the power to overrule it, case by case,' said Brigitte Kuster of the Panafieu campaign. Since 2001, when Delanoe was elected, he has made 'public consultation' his trademark.

Delanoe could win people around if the buildings are proposed as a solution to the shortage of social housing. He may also convince skeptics that the projects will launch his 'Greater Paris' vision, aimed at joining the capital to its suburbs by covering the ring road. But it will be a tough battle.