As part of a recently-opened exhibition envisioning the future of Paris's urban highway system, a team led by Carlo Ratti Associati (CRA)  has unveiled a dramatic, two-pronged vision for what the city's Boulevard Périphérique might look like in 2050.

Ratti, working with research carried out by the MIT Senseable City Lab he directs, proposes a vision that maintains the boulevard's status as a ring road, albeit one ruled by autonomous public and private transit.  

One aspect of the plan, dubbed "Living Laterality” by the designers, envisions removing half of the traffic lanes for the 22-mile ring road in order to provide space for a series of reconfigurable playgrounds and other urban amenities. Renderings for the proposal showcase autonomous bus pods running side-by-side with autonomous vehicle traffic, as well as generous, dedicated shared mobility spaces for urban scooting, bicycling, and walking. 

“Living Above,” the second proposal, envisions adding stacked housing complexes beside, above, and around the highway. According to the studio, as autonomous and low-carbon transit options eliminate the highway as a source of urban pollution, new urban housing will follow to reclaim the previously off-limits areas. The architects hope to use the new housing projects to stitch together neighborhoods on either side of the massive highway by creating "a set of inhabitable bridges, recomposing a historical fracture between ... the historical city and that of the banlieues."

Ratti, founding partner of CRA, said in a press release announcing the project, “In the 20th century, urbanists made space for bigger roads and more cars. Today, we can leverage innovation in mobility to imagine creating a more seamless and inclusive city.” 

The twin proposals are conceived as part of a "New Deal"-focused exhibition, titled Les Routes du Futur du Grand Paris, organized by the Forum Métropolitain du Grand Paris. The exhibition includes work of Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners, Seura Architectes, Richez_Associés, and Devillers&Associés. 

The exhibition is on view through August 31 at the Pavilion de l’Arsenal in Paris.