The 2024 Olympic Dream lasted two months. In Paris, there was magic in the air. As if by magic, even grumbling – a national sport in France – vanished. Twelve months later, central Paris is seeing clear changes in the public space – an Olympic legacy promoted by the city authorities as “Paris évolue sous vos yeux” (Paris is changing beneath your eyes).
That legacy is partly in the short term, partly more enduring. In the immediate term, next week’s one year milestone will see my fellow Olympic volunteers helping at anniversary celebrations such as giant picnics and mass karaoke. La Vasque – the enchanting Montgolfier balloon – is back and floating above the rooftops in the late evening. For the first time since 1923, even a morning swim in the Seine is now possible – with three experimental swim zones trialled at this year’s annual ‘Paris Plage’ event. In the first two weeks, the water there has often been warmer than the morning air and twenty thousand swimmers have taken a dip. Fixing a target to stage Olympic triathlons in the river accelerated the clean-up of the Seine with the construction of a giant rainwater retention basin. Open water swimming is a small but direct return on that €1.4bn investment.
A major piece of the Olympic inheritance is infrastructure improvements in central Paris. The hard deadline of July 2024 led to the delivery of extensions to rapid trainlines both north-south and east-west. For users, both extensions are proving gamechangers, with grand cathedral-like new stations and modern rolling stock. East-west, the extended RER E line is de-congesting the 55-year-old RER A – whilst the new north-south line 14 extension to Orly is a huge upgrade on the quirky Orlyval shuttle. Whilst European capital cities such as Stockholm, Copenhagen and London have been opening express trainlines to connect their airports to the city centres, France, home of the Train à Grande Vitesse, was left behind. Train access to Paris’ twin international airports had become ever more slow, insecure and outdated – encouraging traffic jams and expensive taxi rides. Suddenly, the Line 14 extension makes Orly airport a more appealing option than Charles de Gaulle, at least until 2027 when the long-awaited CDG Express train links the northern airport to central Paris in twenty minutes.
Since January – and to encourage residents of Greater Paris away from their cars – train tickets are now digital with a single €2.50 pricing across the region. The iconic 20th century cardboard tickets are – finally – no longer available. In parallel, the Zone à Trafic Limité (the car-free zone trialled on rue de Rivoli) has been extended into the four central Paris arrondissements. In addition to Olympic improvements, the legacy of last year’s festivities includes some transport problems. One hangover from the big party is numerous maintenance works postponed because of the Olympics, and which are now thoroughly disrupting this summer’s underground travel.
The 2024 Paris Paralympic Games accelerated the French public’s connection with disability. As a result of the Games, all Paris’ bus and tram services are accessible for the disabled although the deep and aged metro network remains largely inaccessible with only step access. Instead of constructing carbon-heavy and expensive new arenas, the organisers favoured using the city of Paris as a stadium. One of the few brand-new stadiums, the Adidas Arena, is fully accessible to the disabled.
The quality of air and water was a priority for the Games and that legacy has been continued. This Spring, in front of the Hotel de Ville itself, Paris’ third ‘Forêt Urbaine’ was created. On the town hall’s open space – a congested concrete roundabout in the 1970’s – dozens of mature trees and thousands of plants now provide shade and fresh air. The urban forest concept will be replicated in front of the nearby Notre Dame as a finishing touch to the reconstruction (planned in 2028). The restoration of the stunning cathedral is THE French real estate project of the 21st century. Notre Dame – recently reopened after the Great Fire of 2019 – was neither a planned Olympic project nor part funded by the Games. It is, however, front and centre in the new-look central Paris and an inspiring symbol of what can be achieved in a short time.
The Olympic Games, always a powerful agent for change, transformed Paris rapidly – before, during and after Les Jeux. The short-term legacies in swimming and the more enduring changes in ecology and transport are – metaphorically – only just putting a toe in the water. In a longer-term horizon, 2025 is likely only the beginning for cleaner air, cleaner water and the massive Grand Paris infrastructure project which, by 2030, will have doubled Greater Paris’ train tracks. Accelerated by the Olympic Games, Paris is genuinely changing beneath our eyes.
