Parc André Citröen

15th arrondissement
Paris, France

Contributed by Project for Public Spaces

A 35-acre park that is barely more hospitable than the car factory it replaced.

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Why It Doesn't Work

We are heartbroken when we see Parc André Citröen. It is located on a crucial waterfront site, yet it completely fails the surrounding residential neighborhood. We visited the park in different seasons to see how it is used, tallying five visits in total. On each occasion, we found it so indifferent to users' needs that we disliked spending any amount of time there.

The one feature that generates any sustained activity--an array of fountains spurting from a flat, paved surface--has a sign warning children not to play there. The sign is a fitting embodiment of the park's overriding message: "Look, but don't touch."

The entire periphery of the park is a series of fussy little design vignettes that fail to accommodate people's normal uses, such as sitting in groups or even just watching other people. Various theme gardens, follies, and grade-separated paths restrict the user experience to one monotonous act: looking at objects.

The entrances, playgrounds, seating, and activity areas are complete failures compared to Paris's better parks. Two of its features have some potential -- the major water feature and the lawn -- but currently they lack even the most basic supporting amenities, such as seating or picnic tables.

We never suggest that a park be torn up and redone, but we make an exception for this one. We are sure that this park is enormously expensive to maintain. In the long-run, replacing its fussiness in favor of simpler, usable spaces would be a cost-effective way to turn Parc André Citröen into the urban oasis it ought to be.

User Comments:

> Add your own comment about Parc André Citröen

07/08/04 Mariken van Nimwegen said:: It's funny you should so completely trash this modern park. Having rented a bike ( yes, Paris is becoming gradually more bike-friendly even though you must still have eyes in the back of your head because the city's traffic is so frantic and the paths don't add up yet everywhere you go - sometimes there's cars parked on the bike paths forcing you back into traffic) in order to do a tour of Paris' parks, I just spent a warm, sunny Sunday afternoon at Andre Citroen, at the end of May, and I have never seen every single nook and cranny of any park anywhere used so intensively for the purposes these areas were designed for, by people of all ages and backgrounds.

The 'grand design,' the diagonal path, the big field and the paths along the waterways, all of it was filled with groups of strollers and flaneurs, ballplayers and picnickers. (Parisians understand picnic to mean sitting on a blanket on the grass, munching - they don't see the need for furniture or for hauling half their home's inventory into an SUV to eat outdoors in a park.) Everything was packed with people doing group and family activities.

What's more, I did not see many signs or other bureaucratic interference, telling people what to do or not do, did not notice any visible infrastructural services, saw no graffiti or vandalism, and most of all: no logos anywhere. There's merely a very small bust of Mr. Andre Citroen on the southwest side, where the park smoothly merges with the spaces around the glassy modern office buildings in behind. The more detailed and private garden designs on the edges and the continuous walking routes through them were dotted all over with people having some solitude and contemplation, or quietly conversing and sitting with a friend or discussing the plantings.

I was astounded by the well-developed park culture of Paris: this day, all parks, of all design eras, were filled to the brim. Perhaps it matters less than we think whether a park is Victorian, filled with atrocious follies and fakes (des Buttes-Chaumont), dilapidated (Vincennes), classic Italianate or chateauesque, a multi-purpose museum and culture precinct (de la Villette), or modern and conceptual. The intensive use of Paris parks and streets make for a good argument for more density: density makes for richly textured, intriguing cities, where the 'chance encounter' is still very much a possibility and where people still look at each other in the streets. I can only say I completely disagree with your take on this park. It's a beauty, and people have most decidedly found their way over to use it and have made it their own.
09/14/04 James Lugaila said:: This park deserves some credit. I spent numerous afternoons there this summer, where families came to picnic, lay out under the sun, and play football. The park is beautifully maintained. Great place to exercise. Often you see couples taking evening strolls. Plus pets are not allowed, so you don’t have to watch your step, as you would in many other parks. So don't tear this park up, it attracts a lot of people, it’s a fun and relaxing place.
11/20/05 Louis Haywood said:: I was in Paris a few months ago and I must say that the park was being used quite well. The parc is a great place to lay down on the grass, watch people, or relax on a recliner-bench in one of the small tree gardens. It was also very fun to watch the trains go by on the west side of the park. At the time, I thought I had found a real jewel.
05/25/06 Andrew Smith said:: I cannot disagree more strongly with the article. I was there a week ago on a sunny Thursday afternoon and it was being well used for its purpose. People were strolling, lying, sitting, playing. We sat in several of the 'rooms' just to enjoy the immaculate planting and the peace. Your article displays a very anglo-saxon idea of what a park is about: the traditional french garden is formal, it is for looking at, so please don't complain if it does not live up to your transatlantic expectations. Parc Andre Citroen does its job well, and the surprise as one enters the huge space from the narrow entrance in Rue Balard is a joy.