A car -free quay along the Seine and tens of thousands of trees: Paris is greening visibly

The farm of Gerard Munier is surrounded by white flats. On the north side there is a handful of stately buildings with pewter roofs in the recognizable style of Eugène Hausmann, who designed the Paris of today in the nineteenth century for Napoleon III. In the south, a tower apartment apartment building is shooting into the air for Parisian standards.

In the middle of this very urban part of Paris, Munier, a fit sixties with sun -tanned skin. From 2018 he built a large flower garden on the roof of a water reservoir, where visitors can pick bouquets. There are rows of colorful violets and other edible flowers that are sold to restaurants. In a large, sultry conservatory, countless growing micro-pousses: Young shoots of plants used for garnish. The tiny leaves taste peas, mustard and radish.

At a shop where flowers, micro-pousses and homemade tea are for sale, Munier points to a sign that states that the farm has been festively opened by the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo. “We can be grateful to her, because we would not have existed without Mrs. Hidalgo,” says De Boer.

The Paysan Urbain (‘De Stadsboer’), as the farm is called, came about thanks to Hidalgo’s project Les Pariscultors: Since 2016, the municipality of Paris is investing in so -called urban agricultural projects to make the city greener. In the meantime, at more than eighty locations In and around Paris On roofs, old parking spaces and left sites, flowers grown and vegetables grown, and children hoe in school gardens.

Visibly greener

It is one of the ways in which Paris is greening under Hidalgo. The list is long: since the politician of the socialist party became mayor in 2014, she has implemented numerous plans to make Paris greener. She had tens of thousands of trees planted and installed more than a thousand kilometers of cycle paths. Traffic arteries were transformed into a pedestrian area, the maximum speed on the ring road went down. In the meantime, Reden parking rates, countless parking spaces disappeared and part of the city only became accessible for (motorized) destination traffic.

All this to make the seriously contaminated air in the car and concrete city cleaner and to prepare Paris for increasingly higher temperatures: according to forecasts, climate change in 2050 can up to 50 degrees become in the French capital. “My goal is that we can breathe in Paris,” said Hidalgo in 2015 interview on the French radio. It goes in the right direction: between 2005 and 2024 the air pollution halved, shows a study of The independent research agency Airparif. Fine and nitrogen dioxide, substances that are harmful to health, decreased by 55 and 50 percent respectively.

This improvement is not only the fruit of Hidalgo’s policy, says Airparif researcher Lou Mechin. “It is the result of a combination of policy measures at local, national and European level. For example, EU standards have come for less polluting cars and low emission zones have been set at national level.” Air quality has also been improved in other French cities.

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Huge cycle paths

All in all, it has become noticeably more pleasant breathing in Paris, which is becoming greener. For example, Place de la Concorde, rather a traffic night mare full of exhaust gases and scolding Parisians, has been partially closed for cars since last summer. On a sunny day, tourists stroll around at ease on this regained spare area, Parisians shoot over it on their electric bicycles without fears of death. In the coming period will be on the square 2.8 hectares are constructed to green.

Earlier, the famous shopping street Rue de Rivoli turned from a steaming traffic artery into a quiet, wide avenue with huge cycle paths. Perhaps the most striking transformation was that of the Kades of the Seine, which were closed for cars in 2016. On the northern quay, 40,000 cars rather drove a day, now there is a cycling and walking path where people run, pétanque Play and bubble. Since this summer, a number of places can also be swimming in the cleaned Seine.

The changes can also be seen further away from the tourist heart: the attentive Parisian sees trees and colorful beds. More and more school yards are being filled with greenery and shadow spots and three hundred will be three hundred for September Rues Aux Écoles are laid out: greening and car -free streets around schools – dogs run around and children play.

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Bigger and faster

What Hidalgo does is special, but “Paris has not invented the wheel,” says Hélène Chartier, director of urban planning of the C40 network for world cities who are committed to climate adaptation-Hidalgo was chairman of the network for a number of years. “Seoul and Chicago, for example, have closed the quays of their rivers before Paris for cars and Copenhagen, among others, had been working for much longer to become bicycle -friendly,” says the Française. “Hidalgo is inspired by other cities and then implement their ideas bigger and faster.”

As an example, Chartier mentions that during the Coronacrisis numerous world cities experimented with ‘coronafiet paths’. “Hidalgo was the first to say: these cycle paths are becoming permanent.” And the mayor distinguishes herself from some international colleagues because she does a lot at the same time: “She does not choose one or two pioneering projects, but she makes both the quays of the Seine car -free and the squares are being overhauled and the maximum speed on the ring road goes down.” And sometimes she does pioneer, for example by opening greened school yards on hot days, so that more people there can benefit from the shadow.

Hidaldgo uses original political means to implement its green policy, such as organizing referenda on matters such as a higher parking tax for SUVs. These referenda only get a fraction of the Parisians, but the result is always ‘green’.

Hidalgo said: I can’t take it easy. There is a climate crisis and I have to do this now.

The mayor would tell her officials for years that they should not be stopped anything. “When she wanted to change the quays of the Seine into a pedestrian area, resistance came from all sides – even from the government, she was asked to take it easy,” says Chartier. “But Hidalgo said: that is not possible. There is a climate crisis and I have to do this now.” In the courtroom she got after years of litigation.

Hated and loved

There is also resistance among Parisians: complaining about Hidalgo’s policy seems to be a lot Parisiens A favorite activity, there are Socialemedia accounts dedicated to cracking the work of the mayor. Stones of the offense are usually the increasing number of barriers for motorists and the many noisy workshops that can be found in the city in places where beds are laid and motorways are transformed. In the right -hand media, it is also regularly criticized that the greening costs too much money and no economic interest.

“Hidalgo is such a mayor who is more famous and loved outside of her city than inside,” says Julia López Ventura, director of Europe of the C40 network that is present at the interview with Chartier. “We also saw that with Mayor Ada Colau van Barcelona (2015-2023): she was praised internationally for her greening measures, but locally she was extremely criticized and lost the elections-from a different left candidate.”

The resistance to Hidalgo’s policy can partly be explained from “the human resistance to change,” says Lopez Ventura. “People only see at first: my life is difficult and I don’t know what I get back to it.” This concerns, for example, losing a parking space. Her colleague Chartier adds that the speed with which Hidalgo is implementing its policy also leads to resistance. “People don’t have time to get used to.” According to her, Hidalgo’s style and gender also play a role. “Some find her too bright, too dominant. Those are characteristics that are usually experienced as positive in men, but with her it leads to criticism.”

In 2025, Paris is certainly not ‘green’: the car still has an important position in the city, large parts are noisy and dirty. And although the air quality is greatly improved, Parisian air is far from clean: the air quality (just like the one in the Lyon industrial city) still does not meet European guidelines. That influences public health, says Lou Mechin of Airparif. “Died in 2019 7,900 people in the region-paris earlier due to air pollution. That is a third less than ten years ago, but still a large number. And air pollution also ensures an increased risk of chronic diseases such as asthma and cardiovascular disease. ”

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Hidalgo leaves

Whether the green transformation will be continued in the coming years is the question. Local elections will take place in March 2026 and Hidalgo has announced that it would not apply again – it seems to be a position The United Nations to aspire. “Her legacy in Paris is very clear, now she wants to roll out the same message at an international level,” says Chartier.

That makes the future of Paris uncertain. Not in the last place because Hidalgo’s political rival – current Minister of Culture and Mayor of the right -wing seventh district – Rachida Dati Aast at the Town Hall. Last year in the Paris city council, Dati has acted against every green measure of Hidalgo and would like to open the quays of the Seine to motorists. Chartier: “It is possible that the left parties are killed each other and thus give room to the right.” She does not think that Parisians will accept a change. “Yes, many of us have had to get rid of our car, it’s chaos in the streets, everywhere is being grown. But most Parisians understand that the transformation is needed.”

The city farmer Munier fears the moment that Hidalgo will leave the town hall and be at stake his subsidies. But he also does not believe that his fellow townspeople will prefer someone to reverse Hidalgo’s green policy. “Paris is a densely built, compact city. On hot days like this, we all realize that we have to do everything we can to ensure that Paris remains livable.”

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