Metamorphoses in Paris: the fate of Samaritaine among preservation and innovation

In our times, cities regenerate by not only welcoming new and unprecedented activities but also reorganizing themselves from the morphological and social points of view. For a long time, the historic centre has wrongfully been considered as a space crystallized over time - implemented through integral conservation - that has transformed the urban fabric into an enormous museum that is not coherent and no longer meets the needs of the contemporaneity. Today,finding a dialogue, however difficult, between tradition and innovation is essential to implement renewal actions that inevitably must and must increasingly involve the built heritage. A complex palimpsest in which traces of the history and life of man are imprinted and deserve to be read and respected within inescapable mutative processes. However, these processes should be implemented without violence or cancellation, in a planning vision, not limited to the achievement of economic well-being but also to the reinforcement of the cultural dimension of development. Focusing on the transformations that involve the very heart of Paris and, in particular, an iconic place of commerce such as La Samaritaine, this essay aims to analyze the complexity of planning strategies in which specific actions of restoration, renewal and reuse involve the entire city to reconfigure new images and urban spaces.