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The purpose of French new towns is to "demagnetize" Paris. That means to lure new residents of the Paris region out of the overcrowded central city and into planned communities some distance from the downtown core. In the 1970s the major Parisian new towns under construction were Cergy-Pontoise, Saint Quentin en-Yvelines, Evry, Marne la-Vallee, and Melun-Senart. |
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This poster in the Paris subway makes clear that the suburban lifestyle in Melun-Senart is only a 30-minute train ride from central Paris. |
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A visit to the French new town of Evry begins with a high-speed train ride from downtown Paris. |
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This is the entrance to the train station in Evry. A big selling point of the Parisian new towns is that you get the new and inexpensive life of a planned suburb, but central Paris is only a 30-minute or so train ride away. |