Paris: the City of Enlightenment
Paris was the heart of Enlightenment. In the Age of Enlightenment from the early 18th century to 1789, various forces such as population growth, the growing tension between social classes, the authority municipality and the Enlightenment movement, interrelated together and shaped the urban form of Paris. At the same time, the rationalism and intellectual interchange set the ground for the formation of modern urbanism.
In the 17th century, the population of Paris was about 510,000, rose shapely from about 220,000 in the previous century. The rapid population growth and its subsequent needs demanded not only an expansion of the size of the city, but also an organization. Narrow and unordered streets, inadequate public amenities, insufficient water supply, hygiene problems, all suggested the city’s need for a better urban planning.
The population growth created a greater demand for urban space. Several gardens were open to the public, including Tuileries, Luxembourg Palaces and Jardin des plantes. Avenues and boulevard were widen and extended to better accommodate street life and access. Public buildings were designed to open to the street, different from the precedent majority of private mansions having entrances isolated from the streets. Ecole militaire and Saint Genevieve(Pantheon) were both prominent examples. Public squares such as , run de Turenne and Place Vendome were constructed to serve as huge urban rooms for public.
Place Louis XV is probably the most significant urban project at that time. The square was an important element of urban space in Paris. It provided social communal space and connected the main streets. For a city like Paris with such tight urban fabric crowded with monumental buildings, a spatial square could draw attention to the central sculptural monument. With the intention to manifest the king’s authority, the king requested the academy to hold a competition in 1748 for a suitable site to raise the king’s equestrian statue.
In the 17th century, the population of Paris was about 510,000, rose shapely from about 220,000 in the previous century. The rapid population growth and its subsequent needs demanded not only an expansion of the size of the city, but also an organization. Narrow and unordered streets, inadequate public amenities, insufficient water supply, hygiene problems, all suggested the city’s need for a better urban planning.
The population growth created a greater demand for urban space. Several gardens were open to the public, including Tuileries, Luxembourg Palaces and Jardin des plantes. Avenues and boulevard were widen and extended to better accommodate street life and access. Public buildings were designed to open to the street, different from the precedent majority of private mansions having entrances isolated from the streets. Ecole militaire and Saint Genevieve(Pantheon) were both prominent examples. Public squares such as , run de Turenne and Place Vendome were constructed to serve as huge urban rooms for public.
Place Louis XV is probably the most significant urban project at that time. The square was an important element of urban space in Paris. It provided social communal space and connected the main streets. For a city like Paris with such tight urban fabric crowded with monumental buildings, a spatial square could draw attention to the central sculptural monument. With the intention to manifest the king’s authority, the king requested the academy to hold a competition in 1748 for a suitable site to raise the king’s equestrian statue.
Bibliography: Braham, Allan. Architecture of the French Enlightenment. London: Thames and Hudson, 1997. Olmo, Carlo, “Between Tradition and Innovation: Place Louis XV in Paris,” Education of the Architect. Ed. Pollak: 397-408 Papayanis, Nicolis, Planning Paris Before Haussmann, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004.