The growth of this neighborhood occupies a singular place in the history of the city’s development. At 130 hectares, its current perimeter constitutes the largest urban project since Haussmann. The program is also distinguished in terms of its ambitiousness, which was first proposed in 1983 as part of a program for the eastern part of Paris, to eradicate the historic inequality between the city’s western and eastern neighborhoods.

This large railway site owned by the SNCF had already been designated for the 1989 Universal Exposition and the 1992 Olympic Games, but both these projects were abandoned. It thus represented a major resource in terms of land. The voting of the first perimeter of the Seine Rive Gauche development zone, or ZAC (Zone d’aménagement concerté) and the appointment of the City of Paris’ own design, project management, and urban development office (SEMAPA) as the developer heralded a bold program that was formulated and reformulated in 1997, 2002, and 2009. These developments, which were tied to the evolution of urban visions and modes of living, as well as the economic situation, have adapted the project over time and demonstrated its overall agility. Renamed Paris Rive Gauche in 1996, the neighborhood will ultimately host 7,500 housing units, 50% of which will be social housing, 405,000 m2 of shops and businesses, 745,000 m2 of office space, 100,000 m2 of green space, and 720,000 m2 of public facilities, including a number of teaching, recreational, and cultural facilities, two theaters, a pool, three gyms, and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.