Paris continues to bathe in the global spotlight as the Olympics enter week two. But a Syracuse University urban planning expert says the city’s residents and businesses are struggling with the influx of people and security.
For everyday Parisians and even spectators, the constant presence of barricades and police can be maddening. SU architecture professor Jess Myers says heightened security amid the various global conflicts and the protests they may inspire, make it difficult for residents to simply get around.
“So there are these QR codes that you're meant to download in order to prove that you live in a certain neighborhood that you have a reason to be in a certain neighborhood," Myers said. "And it's gotten so intense that I know a number of my friends have just left the city because it's becoming so difficult to navigate.”
Myers says it’s also creating hardships for local shops.
"Small businesses have decided to close for the entirety of the games because it's too complicated one to even get their staff there, but also to get the amount of foot traffic that they're used to having.”
Having been to Paris and to London - during the 2012 Olympics - Myers says she noticed the UK suffered far fewer disruptions to travel and everyday life when London hosted the games.
She says the Olympics are clearly a moment for a venue to shine and assert a local and national identity. In Paris, Myers says the Eiffel Tower, while iconic, just doesn’t capture the totality of the city’s vibrancy.
“It feels like a very generic and commercial view and a view that's also, not to be too terribly harsh, but a bland idea of Paris, where there's so much energy in this city," Myers said. "You have a type of diversity in Paris that you do not see anywhere else.”
Myers says Olympic host cities need to think carefully about the image they want to project to the world and if it has a meaningful connection to its culture, social life, and politics.
