The Rise of Suburban Paris

This chapter examines the 1934 Carte générale de l’aménagement de la Région parisienne (Carte générale), a brightly-coloured, multi-page representation of Paris and its suburbs. Parliament passed ‘la loi du 14 mars 1932’ which officially defined ‘la région parisienne’ geographically as the area within a thirty-five-kilometre radius from the ‘parvis Notre Dame.’ A forty-member commission chose Prost’s Carte générale and named him Urbaniste en chef. Prost’s map, the last officially approved cartographic proposal for the capital under the Third Republic recognized the changing nature of early-twentieth century cities, where the automobile enhanced personal movement and overwhelmed nineteenth-century infrastructure. Reinforcing the desire to both know and control the growing region and address current transportation infrastructure inadequacies, Prost highlights new autoroutes and clearly delineates – geographically – where the region ends. Prost acknowledged the growing presence of the banlieue (suburb). He followed Jaussely’s lead and documented future development and existing green space. Prost also suggests controlling urban growth. This chapter investigates how Henri Prost’s Carte générale demonstrates the government’s desire to move beyond the ideals of urbanism in Jaussely’s 1919 Plan. Prost provides a much more realistic plan to address the region’s needs.