Has any tourist to Paris not sat on the sprawling lawn of the Champs de Mars and thrown back a glass of wine after toasting to the Iron Lady as she lights up the dusky sky? Probably not. But the next (or first) time you visit the Eiffel Tower, things may look a little different.
The iconic symbol of Paris-built for the 1889 World’s Expo- was never meant to stay in Paris. The tallest structure in the world at the time was only saved from dismantling when it became a totem for the ‘brand new’ telegraphic transmission technology.
While their country is still gripped by a global pandemic, France is preparing for the 2024 summer Olympic Games, and it seems the tower, her lawns and Trocadero are looking at getting a much needed facelift.
An excess of 130 acres of park land surrounding the Eiffel Tower, usually congested with shoulder to shoulder tourists, is set to be redeveloped. The Grand Site Tour Eiffel, a city wide design competition meant every Parisian had a say in an updated design that would respects the tower’s history and environment and return several developed areas back to the plants, parks, and pedestrians.
The winning park designs were drawn up by landscape architects from London studio Gustafson Porter + Bowman (GP+B) and are promised to “create and stage urban and landscape paths, rebalance the use of public space in favor of pedestrians, and ensure optimal management of traffic flows.”
This will be done by restoring greenery between the Trocadero on the right bank of the river and the Military Academy on the left. The area will be modernized while “respecting the spirit” of the beloved space.
GP+B plans to create a new visitor experience by reverting pedestrian spaces that had previously been paved and/or surrendered to vehicles
This redevelopment of the area will take around two years, so if you are visiting Paris between 2021 and 2023, you will still be able to visit the Eiffel Tower , but there maybe some construction underway. Paris will then be ready to show off to the world when it converges in July, 2024 for Olympics XXXIII
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