Around Montparnasse Station - Paris's New Third Places
Third Places are exciting new developments in Paris which give urban residents access to nearby green spaces as well as cycling and pedestrian infrastructure.
Over the last couple of years, the immediate area to the south and east of Montparnasse Station near where I live, has been transformed with the addition of small parks, tree coverage and mixed use bicycle/pedestrian roads.
This process began as an electoral promise by the Socialist and Green party, during the 2020 mayoral election, to create urban forests for residents. One of the sites earmarked for change was Place de la Catalogne, situated on the south side of Montparnasse station. In 2022, this was a concrete square dominated by a roundabout for cars which also marked an abrupt end to the Coulée Verte, a route which allowed cyclists to commute into Paris from the southern suburbs.
The initial work had already started in 2020 and involved creating a new cycle path to the north of the area, connecting onto an existing cycle route running alongside Montparnasse Cemetery (this new route was itself part of a promise to make permanent the temporary bicylce 'corona-piste' which had been put in place as a response to the pandemic) . The main phase, undertaken in 2023, began by cutting car access from half of the roundabout road on the square, forcing motor traffic to stop using the small routes of the 14th as rat-runs. What then followed was nothing short of a major piece of civil engineering as the entire area was dug up, utilities diverted, and the creation of a small forest and park area giving welcome cover during Paris's hot summer months. The remaining road on the west and south of the square, was re-planned with separated bicycle lanes being placed to continue the original Coulée Verte route on-wards north into central Paris, thus making sense of the overall geography as the north and south cycle routes are now joined. The road leading into the Place from the east was converted into a pedestrian street where cars are now just 'guests'.
This phase took just over a year.
A second phase of the work was carried out through 2025 to redevelop the boulevard (rue du Commandant René Mouchotte) running from the Place along Montparnasse Station. This project has involved reducing from 4 to 2 lanes for cars, and adding a pleasant central park area with an adjoining bi-directional bicycle route.
Paris has one of the lowest areas of green space per inhabitant, unlike London or New York which have large parks in the main city area. So this is also an attempt to deal with this and to help provide 'cool-islands'. But these developments also allow residents and visitors to reclaim public space which would otherwise be used for cars.
These projects are proving to be popular with voters, who are most likely not to own a car, appreciate the extra leisure space, reduced noise and pollution as well as the additional cheap transport option of safe cycle routes. Expect to see more of these third places pop up in the next few years.