The utopia of the citizen gardener collides with reality. In Paris, the famous - and equally controversial – “permis de végétaliser” has been withdrawn. Since 2015, this permit had allowed applicants to foster and cultivate the patches of land surrounding the French capital's trees.

The do-it-yourself urban green initiative was part of a broader policy of adapting the urban fabric to the effects of global warming. More specifically, the enlargement of the “pied d'arbre” and their transformation into flowerbeds for cultivation was a corollary to encouraging the progressive demineralisation of public land: the removal of portions of asphalt encourages greater transpiration of the soil, which counteracts heat islands in periods of intense heat. On top of that, a hoped-for fulfilment was expected to arise from the multiplication of green areas and the collective and participatory management of the urban territory.

The decision comes in the face of a long controversy from the opposition - also fuelled by electoral speculation, given that France will be voting in two months for the presidential elections and the mayor of Paris is also the candidate of the Socialist Party. However, political controversy is not the only factor that has influenced the choice. Anarchic and not subject to any constraints, this form of bottom-up gardening has found its limits in a certain amateurish effect and in the poor continuity of the green thumbs of Parisians, too inclined to abandon their flowerbeds after the initial rush.

Left to themselves, and now without the historic iron grates that covered the pieds d'arbre, the flowerbeds have often turned into forgotten corners, a receptacle for rubbish and the uncontrolled - or desolate - growth of plants not always suited to the local climate. An image that has lent itself to numerous attacks: in addition to degradation, the permis de végetaliser has been identified as a viaticum towards the lack of uniformity that has always distinguished the Parisian streets and its furniture, still strongly linked to the Haussmanian heritage. There is no point, however, in failing to see the return of experience to a misunderstood attitude: while all Parisians, especially after the pandemic, declare themselves in favour of the multiplication of the city greenery, few find the time and inclination to take care of it

Photo by Soroush Karimi on Unsplash