Classified as a historical monument in its entirety since 1937 and nominated on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1991, Place de la Concorde lies in the heart of the Seine River Banks site "Paris, rives de la Seine". It is today the focus of a comprehensive deliberation process with a view to its redevelopment. The aim is both to enhance the site as well as adapt it to present day environmental challenges.
In order to establish the rules for this new development, the Mayor of Paris convened a commission of experts chaired by Jean-Jacques Aillagon and Ann-José Arlot. In mid-July they submitted a list of 12 recommendations, all of which were unanimously approved and incorporated into the consultation programme of the project supervisor. Alongside this, public consultation sessions were launched at the beginning of April enabling users and visitors to Place de la Concorde to be involved in this deliberation process, through workshops questioning the heritage, transport, uses and sustainability.
Given that the programme proposed by the City of Paris respects the exceptional heritage value of Place de la Concorde, the National Heritage and Architecture Commission - la Commission Nationale du Patrimoine et de l’Architecture - issued a statement in favour of the plan on 26th September 2024 announcing the next stages, in particular the selection of five teams of project managers, followed in early 2025 by a project which will ensure that the beauty of Place de la Concorde be preserved and adapted to the challenges of our century.
As a member of the Concorde Commission and Jury selecting the five candidates, the Paris Urbanism Agency has accompanied the various stages of this unprecedented procedure. In this context, Apur produced some forty maps, organised into four parts: morphology, landscape, urban characteristics, crossing and uses, in order to provide food for thought for the commissions, the public, the teams of architects and those who love Paris. They are presented here in this study "The Geography of Place de la Concorde".