Why is Paris such a small city ?
The benefits of European capitals
If you come to Paris and want to discover the French way of life, you could be surprised to see that Paris is a pretty small city.
It’s walkable, you can navigate inside easily just by walking or taking the metro, and it’s far less spread than London for example (which has 10x the size of the French capital).
But why a city like Paris, one of the most visited in the world, is still small compared to US cities or other big capitals ?
How many people live in Paris ?
Paris has a population of 2,161 millions, it’s almost the same amount of inhabitants than Houston, Texas.
But if you look at this map that compared both cities, you will be surprised to see how Paris concentrates all its population in a small area.
A dense urban design
Most cities in Europe, even capital cities, are really dense.
Europe is an old continent, and these cities were built far before the appearance of modern transport. The historical architecture made it hard to redesign our cities, because we didn’t want to destroy our traditional buildings and monuments.
During the 19th century, the Baron Haussmann was in charge to design the streets of Paris in a modern way. He created an impressive architecture that was allowing carriages and vehicles to use big streets while keeping the monuments and famous buildings intact.
The Paris we know today is still this Hausmmannian urban design. The large boulevards surrounded by buildings and hotels with the same height.
A walkable city
As Paris, and other cities in France and Europe, were not built around cars, you can find so many benefits to live here.
It’s a walkable city, you don’t have to take a vehicle to buy your groceries or go to a restaurant. Everything is near you and it’s much more charming and socially interesting because you feel that you live surrounded by other people.
It’s like a big community living in the same village.
Paris is even becoming more and more pedestrian, as the Mayor created more bike lanes and the Velib system (free use bikes available in every street) allow us to ride a bike for 2,30€ a month only.
If you come from a big city built around cars, highways and large roads, you will feel free and relaxed to discover Paris.
And if you want to plan a trip to this magnificent city, you can discover my Guides and Maps of Paris on www.frenchguytheo.com 🗺️
See you in Paris,
À bientôt 👋
Théo
I was just talking about the concept of la dérive in my podcast and how when I go to Paris walking around is my #1 favorite thing to do there. I hadn't considered the old layout that makes it so easy for pedestrians. It certainly helps make room for more pastries