Mobility, Waste, and Greenery in Paris
Part Two of What I Learned During a Summer Trip to France
Enhanced mobility, with the main emphasis on public transit, is a central aspect of the Batignolles eco-district in Paris. Two metro lines — including an extension to one of the city’s main existing lines — two commuter train lines, a tramway line, and 13 bus linkages serve the neighborhood.
The new Martin Luther King Park, rather than just being a destination, opens to all the surrounding areas with its crisscrossing of foot and bike paths, thus shortening the distances between neighborhoods and public transit. The park was given top priority and was thus completed first to get locals used to making it a part of their daily routines. Throughout Paris, policies and programs are making it easier and more desirable to get around by means other than car.
The district has an innovative waste-collection system, an underground network of pneumatic pipes that automatically removes household, business, and public-area waste (except glass), thereby reducing the number of refuse containers and trash trucks and the amount of greenhouse-gas emissions, the latter by 42 percent. In lieu of hundreds of refuse trucks collecting throughout the area, the system needs just four.
