Paris Considers Ditching Building Height Limits

"Bertrand Delanoë, the popular Socialist mayor, said that buildings were needed to ease the city's housing shortage, despite the fact that a survey last year found almost two-thirds of Parisians were against relaxing the rules."

"It is currently forbidden to build higher than 37 metres in the capital, and no skyscraper has been built for 18 years. Parisians often complain about the Tour Montparnasse, an ugly tower that blights the central Paris skyline."

"However, Mr Delanoë told a council meeting: 'We cannot forbid ourselves from looking up. Parisians are reticent about the idea... but a public official's responsibility is to let himself be guided by a sense of public interest rather than polls,' he said."