It's the same with so many pedestrianised spaces. Every one becomes a cherished space for locals, boosts the economy. And every one was fought tooth and nail by those insisting car travel must be prioritized
this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2026
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It's often the local businesses who do the whining, being afraid that customers can't or won't access their store.
But if you just look at the picture, it's pretty easy to see a larger number of potential customers in the after picture. You can't really sell shit to people in cars unless you have a drive-in.
A big part is that business owners also don't want to lose their own parking spaces. So selfish and petty but as expected.
And a fucking shit ton of (space reserved just for car) parking!
It's one of the culture wars that's definitely worth fighting.
It's too bad that they removed the public seating though. Sitting next to water is nice
Can't be having homeless loitering about
Hating the poor and disabled is a time honored tradition.
It looks like theres some seating closer to the camera and also there's a kid on a swing. There could be seating hidden by the trees.
I like the more natural aesthetic that the newer video has. The exposured mulch/dirt is probably better for the trees anyways.
They added some too if you like at the bottom of the frame.
Looks like they removed all the concrete the benches were sitting on, exposed dirt next to the river is a good choice for many reasons.
Such as? I can only come up with a vague "drainage maybe?"
Dirt is cooler than concrete. You can plant stuff in it to reduce temperatures and provide habitat for wildlife.
Oh, I know that. I guess your wording made me think there was some unique benefit to having dirt next to the river.
Good eye. It makes me wonder.
The homeless situation in Paris is pretty extreme, at least it was when I visited in 2015
I visited Paris this summer and was amazed by the nice walking areas and parks surrounding the Seine river. They even put up showers and mist curtains to help tourists and sportives deal with the heat.
Even here in Oklahoma City, in the middle of the reddest state in the US, we’ve added a massive walkable park in the middle of the city with heat relief misting stations, water parks, we’re in the middle of converting several roads and blocks into walkable neighborhoods, we’re adding greenbelts to the city in various spots to connect walkable areas and parks. Just last month our modern trolly system went from a small but annoying fare to permanently completely free for any rider. If we can do it, everyone can
That's amazing, gives me hope for red states
It just goes show you that conservatives outside red red areas want to take away from the others even if it is against their interests. Red red areas have these things because there’s no bogeyman to blame for why public works are impossible.
Yall are apparently so spoiled that you think it wasn't pleasant before. A wide sidewalk, barely any cars, going slowly.
If you want a real horrorshow, check out Saint Petersburg's Neva embankments, which are major arterial roads where cars often go 100 km/h. There are pretty spacious sidewalks, but it's impossible to hear yourself think on there because of the cars.
I was in Paris just last week and sure there were cars, but the amount of people that I seen using public transportation was unreal. It helps that they made the metro affordable for pretty much everyone.
(€2.55 (~$2.94 USD) flat fee across the Paris region, including Paris-to-suburbs, but excluding going to the Airports which are €14 (~$16.15 USD). Bus and Tram is €2.05 (~$2.36 USD) flat fee across the Paris region)
Walking was mostly what I did because I am simply in awe of the architecture across the city.
actually it was pleasant before too. now it's pleasanter.
You could almost say it's pleasanteur if it weren't a mistranslation 😌
Plus de plaisir 😉
Why'd they remove the benches though? Seems like they'd be even more useful next to a walking path.
People visit Paris and think this waterfront was always pleasant
The road marks are still visible.
It's not uncommon for shared paths and bike lanes to have road-style dividing lines.
I can see my bicycle over there in the bottom of that water, next to some cake recommending ladies head!
Devil's advocate they did choose a gloomy day for the car video. And they did remove the benches. Sitting down to enjoy the day at that spot is great. Having to walk around is not great for some.
Same time of year and weather?
Both have trees without leaves and it appears to be sunny with a light breeze. Short of the temperature I’m not sure what else you’re asking for.
If it's more or less sunny, weekend vs weekday, if it was raining... I'd just like to know when the videos were taken.
Yeah it's obviously nicer with more walking space, but the bottom is clearly a nicer day
It might be a nicer day, but judging from people's clothes both are in winter.
Well, the sun makes a big difference in winter
If what you are asking is if there would be more pedestrians in the park if the weather was the same in both videos, the answer is no. On top of the wall on the right you have a 4 way street (quai de l'hotel de ville). Add to that the 2 ways street below and the minerality everywhere around, and you get a place that's unbearable for anybody that is not deaf.
About 20 years ago I did an internship in the summer a few hundreds meters from there. I was a student discovering city life, so I went to all the terraces and good spots in the area. I learned today threw this video that there was an accessible park there. Never heard of it threw the colleagues that lived here or the people I met.
On the other hand there is a good spot on the bank of the quai de Bourbon, just across the river (I just checked, it's less than 100m away if you can fly). I went there several times for picnic and it was always overcrowded. It was in the summer though.
If you want to see for yourself, you've got plenty of pictures in streetview taken in the summer when the cars were there. It's pretty much empty. You even have more peoples in the pictures taken in november after the works.
You know, I hadn't considered the noise aspect, yeah. With little foliage by the river and stone walls (pretty as they may be), the noise of traffic would definitely be bouncing off the concrete right at that walkway unmitigated.
To be fair most old European cities are very minerals with relatively narrow street so the car noise is a bigger problem than it should.
I think that is among the reasons that explains the popularity of the policies aiming to reduce car space inside Paris. The avenues made by Haussman are bad as well on this aspect
Even though cars didn't exist then, there was a famous architect contemporary to Hausmann who vehemently criticized his "corridor" avenue and was proposing to put the courtyards between/ in front of the buildings instead of inside or beside them. He called that "boulevard à Redans", and the idea is awesome, and I suppose this would have helped with the noise problem :
Is that the road from Taken? With a tunnel further up?
I thought of The Bourne Identity, the car chase with the mini.
What is it even supposed to mean
the clue may be on the community's name
No fuck you, I'm not a car
You are supposed to fuck the cars, silly!
It means, we have to fight for beauty, build enjoyability. It doesn't come by itself.