Placemaking: Creating A Dreamy City

"The move reflects a growing belief in 'placemaking': the regeneration of neighbourhoods not directly through jobs or wholesale redevelopment, but through altering an area's character to make it more attractive to people. Dreamier still was the initiative instigated last summer by mayor Bertrand Delanoe, in which 3.8 kilometres of inner-city expressway was converted into an urban beach. Seventeen city agencies worked together creating a ribbon of sand and equipping it with 80 imported palm trees, 22 blue and white striped changing tents, 150 parasols and 300 blue canvas deckchairs. Some 600,000 people visited the beach on its first day, displacing the 200,000 motorists who would normally have used the expressway. New York is also getting in on the dreaminess act..."

Thanks to Harriet Festing