Uploaded on 2017-01-15 by Hibon

* Step 1: List the five most liveable cities that you know, based on your own experience and judgment, placing the most liveable city at the top of the list. 1.Tokyo 2.Berlin 3.Zurich 4.Vancouver 5.Amsterdam * Step 2: Describe in your own words five characteristics that according to your opinion make a city liveable. Order them placing the most important at the top of the list. * 1. Environment : limited air, water and noise pollution from existing infrastructures and inhabitants. access to green spaces within the city 2. Public Transport : safe, environmental-friendly and reliable public transports networks 3. Safety : low crime rates 4. Economic ecosystem: dynamic ecosystem encouraging job creation and development of resilient industries 5. Culture : favoring access to culture to all and development of the arts and preserving historical heritage Step 3: Describe the status of your own city in terms of the five characteristics that you listed above. Propose how your city should/could be transformed in relation to these characteristics in order to be more sustainable. 1. Environment : Paris suffers most from air pollution peaks due to car-trafic and unfavorable winds as situated in the Ile de France basin. On-going initiatives will further limit car traffic in Paris (introduction of a car sticker, alternative , forbiding traffic by Seine banks, limiting parking spaces, expanding and improving transport infrastructure in the suburbs). Another area to work on are access to green spaces which are fairly limited in Paris. Most new building projects now integrate some form of greenery and the city is pushing in favor of citizen-led initiatives to develop vegetable gardens, bees hives and wild gardens protecting birds and wild life in the city. 2. Public Transport : government-subsidized transport infrastructure is amongst the most reliable in Europe for its size and age. Still compared to cities like Tokyo, there're some efforts to be made in terms of hygiene, ease of access (endless corridors/stairs) and strikes' prevention by raising public awareness and responsibility (advertising, enhanced real-time communication and accountability of users' feedback) as well as planning and investing effectively in its resources and its interaction with other means of transports (cycling, cars etc) for the last mile. 3. Safety : Paris is a relatively safe city to live in, yet risk gets much higher in the suburbs (as in other FR cities) where 1st and 2nd generation emigrants struggle to get access to education and jobs leading to higher criminality rates. More recently terrorism has hit the city several times. Initiatives to support access to higher education (student grants, mentoring programs) investment in sports infrastrutures amongst others can help young ones gain more in confidence and respect and give them higher chances to integrate the labor force. 4. Economic ecosystem : due to limited office space, larger companies often have to spread outside of the city. However the city is working on creating new work spaces in old abandoned factory spaces (Halle Freyssinet, Entrepots Macdonald) while encouraging enterprise creation and emergence of new industries thanks to governement support and results-oriented subsidies (BPI, R&D tax credit) so as to keep attracting talent and investment in the city. 5. Culture : Paris benefits from a huge cultural heritage and is amongst the most visited city in the world. Preservation of its monuments as well as the city (every 10y buildings' facade have to be restored) is a significant share of budget spend, as well as favoring access to culture to all its inhabitants. Further digitalisation and communication can enhance its citizen's awareness and participation in this movement so as not to create fakey cultural/tourist hubs, and thus preserving the authenticity of the city while sharing its economic returns with all.