The 20th Arrondissement is generally conceived as Paris’ most radical and working class arrondissement. In many ways this is true but the 20th Arrondissement is much more than that as it also hosts many middle class districts. Les Amandiers/Menilmontant and Belleville are the stereotypical working class and historically radical neighborhoods within the 20th Arrondissement.  By the 1830s Menilmontant and Belleville were already urbanized, heavily working-class, and socialist. The districts played a major role in the Paris Commune of 1871 and was the most difficult area for the Versailles Army to reconquer Paris in May of 1871. By the 1950s/1960s  many artists, musicians, students, and hippies moved into the area, giving it a distinctively bohemian, left-wing and counterculture identity. But by this time much of the neighborhood was in disrepair and the City targeted the area for urban renewal. Fortunately Paris’ version of urban renewal was much more targeted and sensible than its counterpart in American. Hillsides were converted to parks and buildings surgically replaced with modernist buildings that still retained a decent urban design. Current day Belleville remains somewhat gritty but is witnessing a significant amount of revitalization. Belleville also hosts Parc de Belleville where one is given some of the best great views of the City. The remaining parts of the 20th Arronissement, which comprise the majority of the district, are middle class areas hosting an eclectic mix of historic and modern architecture with generally quality urbanity.

The 20th Arrondissement hosts several great commercial districts but has limited consistant mixed-use areas as is the case closer to the center of Paris. Major commercial districts in the arrondissement include:  Rue d’Avron,  Rue Saint-Blaise (intimate cobble stone street), Rue de Bagnolet, Av. Gambetta/Rue Belgrand, Rue des Pyrénées, Rue de Belleville, Rue de Ménilmontant, Bd de Belleville.

Click here to view my 20th Arrondissement Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Solid density at around 83K per square mile.
* Hosts the infamous Père Lachaise Cemetery where many famous people are buried (i.e. Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison, Chopin, Oscar Wild) and countless Parisian families.
* Largest immigrant populations here.
* Limited amount of tourism.
* Hosts Parc de Belleville a wonderful hilltop park with great views of the City. Decent # of other small to medium sized parks but less green spaces than most parts of Paris.
* Nice Promenade in the middle of Bd Belleville.
* Quality modern in fill in the eastern and southern parts of the arrondissement.
* Interesting maze of stairways and roadways in the hillier parts of the district.
* Good subway access throughout the district. 

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Still lots of grit and some crime in the Menilmontant and Belleville areas but this is changing as the districts are gentrying.
* Tree canopy is lacking in the more historically working class areas.
* The Menilmontant and Belleville areas hosts a large concentration of unattractive mid century buildings. Still better urban form than their counterpart in American but often ugly buildings.

The 19th arrondissement is a great mix of architecture styles and walks of life mixing Old French bohemianism and the new highly diverse Parisian cosmopolitanism. This sector is home to many immigrants especially from North and Sub-Sahara Africa. Generally the south western edge of the district is the oldest populated with a mix of Haussmannian architecture along the Boulevards but also plenty of more plain historic styles common to its neighbor Belleville to the south. As one moves to the north and east thru the neighborhood architecture becomes more and more modern but plenty overall the district is very eclectic architecturally.

Quartier de la Mouzaïa in the eastern central portion of the district is the most affluent and attractive neighborhood of the 19th Arrondissement hosting many semi-private and village esh streets. The Quartier is surrounded by two excellent hilltop parks (i.e. Parc des Buttes-Chaumont and Parc de la Buttee-du-Chapeau-Rouge), which take advantage of the 19th’s hilly terrain. Just north of here is the LaVilette, Paris’ largest cultural park, a treasurer for Parisian families where one can enjoy a host of museums and performing arts venues or simply take a stroll thru the well designed plazas and canal side promenades along the Canal Saint-Denis and Cala de l’Ourcq. Much of the 19th Arrondissement has a strong immigrant/working class presence but it is most pronounced  in the Northwestern sector outlined by the two aforementioned canals. This subdistrict is mostly post WWII construction yet still maintains a high level of urbanity.

The 19th’s main commercial districts include  Av. Jean Jaurès,  Rue de Belleville, Simon Bolivar, Rue Eugène Jumin (a block long pedestrian st surrounded by gorgeous 1910s flats), Av. de Flandre (Pedestrian Promenade in the middle), and Rue de Crimée.

Click here to view my 19th Arrondissement Album on my Flickr Page

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* The 19th Arrondissement is marked by some of Paris’ greatest parks and ones that are off the beaten track of most tourist (i.e. the hilltop parks of Parc des Buttes-Chaumont (designed by Baron Haussmann for the World’s Exposition in the 1860s) and Parc de la Butte-du-Chapeau-Rouge, Le Bassin de la Villette and surrounding canal promenades, and the expansive La Villete filled with numerous museums and arts and cultural amenities, it is Paris’s largest cultural park), and Jardins d’Eole. Plenty of others smaller plazas and parkettes and the lengthy where Canal Saint-Denis and the Canal de l’Ourcq meet creating some wonderful waterfront trails.
* Great diversity here with more middle and upper middle class districts in the southern and eastern quadrants and more immigrant work class areas in the western and northern sectors.
* Solid public transit access.
* Only of Paris’ most hilly districts.
* Nice mix of architecture covering anywhere between the mid 1800s to the present age. Older parts of the district are in the Southwestern portions of the neighborhood.
* Solid urban density at 68K per sq mile pretty average for Paris. Neighborhood is actually at its peak population.
* Low amounts of Tourism here give one a very authentic Parisian experience.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Some churches but much less than other Parisian districts.
* Decent amount of grid in the more working class areas.
* Decent number unattractive modern buildings with not the best urban form.

The 11th Arrondissement is one of Paris’ most dense neighborhoods siting at just over 100K per square mile with a total population of 150K. The neighborhood actually peaked in 1911 with a total population of 250K! The 11th Arrondissement is less known to tourist than other more centrally located portions of Paris but has some well known landmarks such as the Place de la Bastille, Opera Bastille, Place de la Republic, and the popular Oberkampf district where the 2015 terrorist attacks occurred. Generally the western half of the 11th Arrondissement is more mixed-use with great cultural assets, cool arcades and passageways, and gorgeous Haussmannian architecture largely hosting single adults. The eastern half is more laid back and more family-oriented. The area hosts less ornate and more modern architecture but still  boast high quality urbanism.

Other areas to highlight in the 11th Arrondissement are the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, an active commercial district  full of fashionable cafés, restaurants, and nightlife, running along the district’s southern border; Rue de Charonne, a less known but quality business district that cuts through the middle of the neighborhood west to east; and the impressive Place de la Nation holding down the southeastern corner of the neighborhood .

Click here to view my 11th Arrondissement album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Great subway coverage here.
* One of Paris’ most dense districts at over 100K per square mile.
* Great concentration of arcades and small passage ways off the main street line with small shops. Much less touristy than passages of the 2nd and 9th Arrondissements. These are closed to Place de la Bastille.
* Largest open air market (Marche Bastille) set up along  Richard-Lenoir. Richard-Lenoirs becomes a great blvd park further north, the filled in remains of the old Canal Saint-Martin.
* Both famous plazas (Place de la Republique and Place de la Bastille) are in the 11th Arrondissement along the Western Edge. A lesser know but still great square (Place de la Nation) is along the Eastern Edge.
* Several nice gardens and parkettes (jardin Émile-Gallé, Jardin Damia, Square des Jardiniers, Square Maurice Gardette.
* Sizable middle class  family areas esp. in the eastern half away from the trendy parts of the district.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Architectural style is less spectacular as the buildings move to the mid century in the eastern half of the neighborhood but still very urban and decent styling.
* Some of the more mid-century buildings are tired and without green adornment and street trees.
* Less cultural opportunity in the southeastern portion of the neighborhood.