Sarkozy redesigns Paris

Last spring, President Nicolas Sarkozy asked teams of notable architects to reimagine Paris as a "world class city." The teams have now come back with 10 visions for creating a metropolitan area known as Grand Paris—defining the boundaries as they saw fit but incorporating sustainable design techniques and a mix of housing for both rich and poor (one design called for a Parisian "Central Park," while another called for gardens on five-square miles of rooftops). The last time Paris was redrawn on a large scale was in the 1850s.

Christian Science Monitor