The image of Paris in France since two centuries : from good to bad to worst

Abstract

Since the end of XVIIIth century, Paris has been citicized for ruining France. After the Commune (1871), strong ruralist, political and moralistic movements have increasingly censured the capital agglomeration which became a scape-goat, responsible for France decline. In 1947, a geographer, Jean-François Gravier, published a violent book against Paris, with the institution of Territorial Planning as a result, after World War II. Its main goal has been to weaken markedly Paris agglomeration.