The big bet(s)
260 pages, 29 euros (Le Moniteur, special edition) For those who missed the exhibition at the Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine (which closed on 22 November), this book is the perfect catch-up. The ten projects are presented in full by the various teams, with supporting illustrations.
Paris Métropole, forms and scales of Greater Paris (Philippe Panerai)
248 pages, 20 euros (ed. de la Villette) Among the plethora of books published on the subject of Greater Paris over the past year, that by architect and urban planner Philippe Panerai remains one of the most enjoyable. And therefore one of the most enlightening. From the "Greater Paris of the Vélib'" (which overlaps with the old "line of forts") to the "Greater Paris of the conurbation" and its 626 communes, Philippe Panerai takes the different scales of the capital region as a starting point for tracing its past and imagining its future. The book is supported by unique, carefully researched illustrations.
Atlas of Parisians, from the Revolution to the present day (Maurice Garden, Jean-Luc Pinol)
288 pages, 49 euros (ed. Parigramme) This great book is a mine. A bible, in fact, for anyone interested in the human landscape of the capital and its evolution. The emphasis is on cartography: from the distribution of people suffering from cirrhosis of the liver between 1886 and 1890 to the distribution of Muslim places of worship today, not forgetting the land register for the wealth tax, over 330 maps help to change - or occasionally confirm - preconceived ideas and to grasp the reality of Paris.
