Rethinking regional planning after the Covid-19 pandemic. The example of the Grand Paris Express (GPE) and its urban planning projects

For several decades, French land-use planning policy has favored the most populous cities, to the point that a law (of 2014) was entitled to ensure “the affirmation of metropolises”. Previously, in 2010, another law was intended to give priority to Paris, with the very important project of a new transport infrastructure, the Grand Paris Express metro (GPE), accompanied by urban planning projects. But this project, the largest in Europe, raises many questions: Does it correspond to the priority needs of the people of Paris? Is it financially sustainable ? Can its demographic equation be easily resolved? Are the paradigms leading to this project well founded? Finally, after the Covid-19 pandemic, is the GPE more justified than ever, or is it wrong in terms of regional planning?