Railway Urbanism: A Genealogy of Transit-Oriented Development and Sustainability in Greater Paris

Résumé :

Rail-based Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) has gained increasing attention in discussions on sustainable urban development. In Greater Paris, recent planning discourse promotes dense, well-connected rail station areas as essential to a sustainable way of life, positioning rail infrastructure as a central instrument of regional development. Rather than perceiving rail-based TOD as a novel paradigm or an abrupt political transformation, this article adopts a long-term, genealogical perspective to examine the evolution of transport planning in the region. It analyses the gradual shift in regional planning discourses and practices from a balanced reliance on motorways and railways towards the predominance of rail infrastructure. The article relies on a qualitative analysis of regional planning schemes that guided the growth and development of Greater Paris from 1960 to 2013, combining historical and discourse analyses of textual and cartographic materials. It shows how TOD-related concepts such as density, compactness, proximity, and accessibility emerged and were progressively established within institutional planning practice, culminating in the Grand Paris Express (GPE) project. By situating TOD within this long-term planning trajectory, the article highlights both the promises and the socio-spatial and environmental tensions embedded in rail-based development, offering a critical perspective on TOD as a model for sustainable urban development.