Each morning I take a deep breath as I turn a Santander bike onto Blackfriars Road at The Cut. I cycle north among a peloton of men on expensive bikes, personal best-ing through SE1. Does any other city have such a Mamil problem? Not Paris. During a happy week there just before Easter I could jump on a Vélib’ and join the throngs of Parisians breezily making their way to and from work, cafe, bar and home. Cycling’s not a lifestyle for me. It’s a cheap and healthy way to get around — and sometimes I want to do that in heels.
Paris has made a lot of noise about its aim to become a 100 per cent cycling city and the results of policy and behaviour change are now evident on the city’s streets: a dramatic increase in cyclists, dedicated lanes and hundreds of new bike parking spaces. Now the city’s mayor Anne Hidalgo is doubling-down on building an international reputation for progressive urbanism.
The French capital’s mooted 20-year “bioclimatic” city plan will increase green space, open private space to the public, build new social housing and enact a controversial building height cap that has left starchitects bereft and locals jubilant. Paris cannot compete with London for culture, but its sights are set on liveability with a clear ambition set out for a generation whose concerns are housing affordability and climate change.
Paris’s sights are set on liveability with ambition set out for a generation that is worried about affordability
For many years now London has viewed New York as its rival in the bid to be the greatest city in the world, but post-pandemic Manhattan is empty and lifeless. The real threat isn’t across the pond, it’s just across the Channel. I’m not talking about bedbugs either. In 2024 Paris is on track to beat London for overall “digital visibility” — the number of conversations online that show a city’s standing in tourism, talent, culture and business, and an indicator of future inward investment. Measured by social media and online news mentions, digital visibility shows the extent to which a city is talking its brand up, the way that the public is joining in and how this is travelling around the globe online through tourism and networks.
Hidalgo’s messaging that Paris is a progressive world city seems to be working. In the last five years it has been closing the gap with London. And current data points to the 2024 Olympic Games giving Paris the edge on the top spot for the first time.
All this matters for the future of London. Paris is relating a story of positive change and transformation to the next generation, whether it’s happening yet or not. What story are we telling? London’s soft power narrative is supercharged by culture and diversity, led from the top by Sadiq Khan. City Hall is building high quality social housing at the fastest rate since the Seventies, and we live in a city which tracks higher than Paris for parks and green spaces. Debates around infrastructure, future prosperity and governance are right in a mature city, but we must keep in mind that there’s a generation ahead that will decide and judge our legacy.
London’s lack of affordability is restricting the ability of young people to think long term, since the entry threshold to starting a business or creative practice means the city is alarmingly limited to the wealthy. A survey by the GLA of young Londoners in 2009 showed that 94 per cent were optimistic about the impact the Olympics would have on the city. Now this generation are struggling to afford private rent and as a result there is a shift in what young people expect from cities and how they are mediated.
The good news, in terms of digital communications, is that they are already shaping London’s digital reputation. This year, TikTok is the leading digital platform in terms of engagement, and for every mention of London, 8,000 people engaged on TikTok versus five on Twitter. It’s likely that Paris will be top in 2024, but London and Londoners should prepare now to own the future.
A city is a common endeavour. We the people shape it; what we say about London helps tell its international story. What we do in the streets shape the city too. From the proud displays of diversity at Carnival and Pride, the making of communal gardens in SE1, and even in the act of civil — and civic-minded — cycling.
Pack the Lycra away to the bottom of the drawer boys, and improve your attitude to urbanism. In 2023, we’re in a very different race with France.
