Editing Paris (section)

===Urbanism and architecture===
{{See also|Architecture of Paris|Haussmann's renovation of Paris|Religious buildings in Paris|List of tallest buildings and structures in the Paris region}}
[[File:Rue de Rivoli at night, Paris August 2013.jpg|thumb|The [[Rue de Rivoli]]]]
[[File:Paris Place des Vosges 02.jpg|thumb|The [[Place des Vosges]], the oldest planned square in Paris]]
Paris is one of the few world capitals that has rarely seen destruction by catastrophe or war. As a result, even its earliest history is visible in its streetmap, and centuries of rulers adding their respective architectural marks on the capital has resulted in an accumulated wealth of history-rich monuments and buildings whose beauty plays a large part in giving Paris the reputation it has today.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Paris Street Evolution |journal=Scientific Reports |date=8 July 2013 |volume=3 |issue=1 |page=2153 |doi=10.1038/srep02153 |last1=Barthelemy |first1=Marc |last2=Bordin |first2=Patricia |last3=Berestycki |first3=Henri |last4=Gribaudi |first4=Maurizio |pmid=23835429 |s2cid=11824030 |pmc=3703887 |issn = 2045-2322}}</ref> At its origin, before the Middle Ages, Paris  was composed of several islands and sandbanks in a bend of the [[Seine]]. Of those, two remain today: [[Île Saint-Louis]] and the [[Île de la Cité]]. A third one is the 1827 artificially created [[Île aux Cygnes]].

Modern Paris owes much of its downtown plan and architectural harmony to [[Napoleon III]] and his Prefect of the Seine, [[Georges-Eugène Haussmann|Baron Haussmann]]. Between [[Haussmann's renovation of Paris|1853 and 1870 they rebuilt the city centre]], created the wide downtown boulevards and squares where the boulevards intersected, imposed standard facades along the boulevards, and required that the facades be built of the distinctive cream-grey "[[Paris stone]]". They built the major parks around central Paris.<ref>De Moncan, Patrice, ''Le Paris de Haussmann'', Les Éditions de Mecene, Paris, {{ISBN|978-2-907970-98-3}}</ref> The high residential population of the city centre makes Paris much different from most other major western cities.{{sfn|Braimoh|Vlek|2008|p=12}}

Paris's urbanism laws have been under strict control since the early 17th century,<ref name="plan hauteurs">{{cite web |url=http://www.paris.fr/viewmultimediadocument?multimediadocument-id=21647 |title=Plan des hauteurs |access-date=1 November 2014 |language=fr |publisher=Paris.fr |website=Mairie de Paris |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140410225515/http://www.paris.fr/viewmultimediadocument?multimediadocument-id=21647 |archive-date=10 April 2014}}</ref> particularly where street-front alignment, building height and building distribution is concerned.<ref name="plan hauteurs"/> The {{cvt|210|m}} [[Tour Montparnasse]] was both Paris's and France's tallest building since 1973,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://paris-a-la-carte-version-pl.paris.fr/carto/mapping/ |title=Plan Local d'Urbanisme – Règlement à la parcelle |website=Mairie de Paris |access-date=31 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100822194654/http://paris-a-la-carte-version-pl.paris.fr/carto/mapping |archive-date=22 August 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> Since 2011, this record has been held by the [[La Défense]] quarter [[Tour First]] tower in [[Courbevoie]].