21st Century (2000–present)

Grand Paris / SDRIF + Grand Paris Express

2010s– · France · Western & Central Europe · Regional & polycentric planning · Planned by Île‑de‑France; multiple teams
Network map of the Grand Paris Express - the new automatic-metro ring (lines 15, 16, 17, 18) plus extensions of lines 11 and 14 that structure the Grand Paris metropolitan project - over the existing
Network map of the Grand Paris Express - the new automatic-metro ring (lines 15, 16, 17, 18) plus extensions of lines 11 and 14 that structure the Grand Paris metropolitan project - over the existing · public-domain

Core idea

New orbital metros; polycentric nodes

Why it matters

Rewires a vast region around transit

Description

Grand Paris (from the 2010s) couples a new metropolitan governance for the Paris region with the Grand Paris Express, a massive automated metro adding four orbital lines and dozens of stations to knit the suburbs together and rebalance the centre-periphery divide.

Significance

Grand Paris is one of the world's largest current metropolitan and transit undertakings, a landmark attempt to plan at true metropolitan scale and address spatial inequality through infrastructure.

What shaped it

Sources

Open it on the interactive timeline →
hub.toekom.st — History of Urbanism · an interactive timeline of 850 planned cities across 6,000 years.