The Prefect of the Seine, M. Delanney, has drafted a
large and fascinating scheme (as we learn in the Times of Tuesday) for developing and beautifying Paris. Baron Haussmann's famous renovation would be almost put in the shade. The boundaries of Paris would be extended so as to include all the suburbs which lie round the fortifications, and create a "Greater Paris" six times larger than the present city. The inner fortifications—the haunt of low characters, who terrify the dweller in the suburbs on his way home at night —which have long been dismantled, would be completely removed. The feverish building that would certainly follow would be carefully regulated. There would be a great number of new open spaces. No city needs them more. Memories of the Bois and the openness of the Champs Elys6es are apt to deceive English visitors in this respect. Paris is inhabited by a hundred and forty-eight persons to the acre; London by only sixty-four. Such things as the garden squares of London are unknown in Paris. The largest open space within Paris proper is the cemetery of Pere Lachaise, which is not exactly gay. Markets, barracks, and hospitals would all be removed to the outskirts, and their sites used as open spaces. The land containing the inner ring of forts would become almost entirely recreation ground, and two immense new parks would be created north and south of Paris.
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