Arrondissements of Paris#History

The twenty arrondissements (French: "rounding") are arranged in the form of a clockwise spiral, often likened to a snail shell,{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NbYS1v5bwNQC|title=Paris For Dummies|last1=Pientka|first1=Cheryl A.|last2=Alexiou|first2=Joseph|date=2007-03-26|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=9780470085844|language=en}} starting from the middle of the city, with the first on the Right Bank (north bank) of the Seine.

In French, notably on street signs, the number is often given in Roman numerals. For example, the Eiffel Tower belongs to the VII^e arrondissement, while Gare de l'Est is in the X^e arrondissement. In daily speech, people use the ordinal number corresponding to the arrondissement, e.g. "Elle habite dans le sixième", "She lives in the 6th (arrondissement)".{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Due to suburbanization, the population of Paris has gradually shifted outward, with only two arrondissements still growing.

{{See also|Council of Paris}}

Uniquely among French cities, Paris is both a municipality (commune) and a department (département). Under the PLM Law (Loi PLM) of 1982, which redefined the governance of Paris, Lyon, and Marseille, hence the PLM acronym, there are both a city council called the Council of Paris, and 20 arrondissement councils in Paris. The PLM Law set limits to the prerogatives of the mayor of Paris, who has to deal with the powers granted to the prefect of police on security issues.

The 20 arrondissement councils (conseils d'arrondissement) are similar in operation to a municipal council (conseil municipal), but with very few powers. Its members are elected at municipal elections in the same way as in municipalities with more than 3,500 inhabitants. Each arrondissement council is made up of 2/3 members, elected specifically as arrondissement councillors. Council of Paris members representing the arrondissement, also sit ex officio on their local arrondissement council.

For example, the council of the 19th arrondissement has 42 members. 28 are conseillers d'arrondissement who only sit on the arrondissement council. 14 are conseillers de Paris who also sit on the city council. At its first meeting after the elections, each arrondissement council elects its mayor.{{Cite web |url=https://www.parisdigest.com/map_paris/map_of_paris_arrondissements.htm |title=Map of Paris arrondissements |year=2018 |work=Paris Digest |access-date=28 August 2018}}

Each arrondissement is subdivided administratively into four quartiers. Paris thus has 80 quartiers administratifs, each containing a police station. For a table giving the names of the eighty quartiers, see Quarters of Paris.

Image:Former arrondissements of Paris.svg.]]

On 11 October 1795, Paris was divided into twelve arrondissements. They were numbered from west to east. The numbers 1–9 were on the Right Bank of the Seine. The numbers were 10–12 on the Left Bank. Each arrondissement was subdivided into four quartiers, which corresponded to the 48 original districts created in 1790.

In the late 1850s, Emperor Napoleon III and the Prefect of the Seine Baron Haussmann developed a plan to incorporate several of the surrounding communes into the Paris jurisdiction. In 1859, Parliament passed the necessary legislation, and the expansion took effect when the law was promulgated on 3 November 1859. City taxes were extended to the new neighborhoods in July 1860.{{sfn|Carmona|2002|p=313–5}}

The previous twelve arrondissements were done away with, and twenty new arrondissements were created. In historical records, when it is necessary to distinguish between the two systems, the original arrondissements are indicated by adding the term ancienne ("former" or "old"), for example, 2ème ancienne or 7ème anc.

Before the reorganization, non-married couples who lived together were said to have "married at the town hall of the 13th arrondissement" ("se marier à la mairie du 13e arrondissement"), as a jocular reference to there being no 13th. When Haussmann released his plan for the new boundaries and numbering system, residents of Passy objected because it placed them in the new 13th arrondissement. The mayor of Passy, Jean-Frédéric Possoz, devised the numbering of the arrondissements in a spiral pattern, beginning on the Right Bank, which put Passy in the 16th. This system turned the Louvre area, which contained the Tuileries Palace and other imperial palaces, into the 1st. The Gobelins area became the 13th instead.{{sfn|Carmona|2002|p=321–2}}

In early 2016, mayor Anne Hidalgo proposed that the first four arrondissements should have their administrations merged. The Council of Paris approved this in February 2016. The four have a combined population of about 100,000, with the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 3rd arrondissements in that order being the four smallest in Paris. In August 2016, the matter was taken up in the National Assembly, and approved in February 2017.[https://frenchly.us/paris-council-plans-combine-arrondissements/ Paris Council Plans to Combine Arrondissements] from frenchly.us[https://www.thelocal.fr/20181016/four-paris-arrondissements-prepare-to-become-one-with-new-name Paris redraws map as four arrondissements unite under new name] from The Local France

In October 2018, in a postal referendum, the town hall of the 3rd arrondissement was chosen to house the new shared administration. The name "Paris Centre" was chosen for the sector. In June 2020, the reform was implemented, the day after the second round of the 2020 Paris municipal election. The four arrondissements now share a mayor and a district council. The four arrondissements continue to exist, but are no longer used as administrative and electoral sectors.[https://frenchly.us/paris-council-plans-combine-arrondissements/ Paris Council Plans to Combine Arrondissements] from frenchly.us[https://www.thelocal.fr/20181016/four-paris-arrondissements-prepare-to-become-one-with-new-name Paris redraws map as four arrondissements unite under new name] from The Local France

Logo Arrondissement de Paris - Mairie 01-04 - Paris Centre.svg|Paris Centre, ar­ron­dis­se­ments 1, 2, 3, 4

Logo Arrondissement de Paris - Mairie 05 - Panthéon.svg|5th arrondissement

Logo Arrondissement de Paris - Mairie 06 - Luxembourg.svg|6th arrondissement

Logo Arrondissement de Paris - Mairie 07 - Palais Bourbon.svg|7th arrondissement

Logo Arrondissement de Paris - Mairie 08 - Élysée.svg|8th arrondissement

Logo Arrondissement de Paris - Mairie 09 - Opéra.svg|9th arrondissement

Logo Arrondissement de Paris - Mairie 10 - Entrepôt.svg|10th arrondissement

Logo Arrondissement de Paris - Mairie 11 - Popincourt.svg|11th arrondissement

Logo Arrondissement de Paris - Mairie 12 - Reuilly.svg|12th arrondissement

Logo Arrondissement de Paris - Mairie 13 - Gobelins.svg|13th arrondissement

Logo Arrondissement de Paris - Mairie 14 - Observatoire.svg|14th arrondissement

Logo Arrondissement de Paris - Mairie 15 - Vaugirard.svg|15th arrondissement

Logo Arrondissement de Paris - Mairie 16 - Passy.svg|16th arrondissement

Logo Arrondissement de Paris - Mairie 17 - Batignolles-Monceau.svg|17th arrondissement

Logo Arrondissement de Paris - Mairie 18 - Buttes-Montmartre.svg|18th arrondissement

Logo Arrondissement de Paris - Mairie 19 - Buttes-Chaumont.svg|19th arrondissement

Logo Arrondissement de Paris - Mairie 20 - Ménilmontant.svg|20th arrondissement

• Paris, je t'aime, a 2006 film composed of five-minute sequences on each arrondissement

• Arrondissement, for other uses of the term.
• Historical quarters of Paris
• Administration of Paris
• Saint-Lambert Church of Vaugirard

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |last=Carmona |first=Michel |title=Haussmann: His Life and Times and the Making of Modern Paris |year=2002 |publisher=Ivan R. Dee |location=Chicago |pages=516 |isbn=9781566634274 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=COdOAAAAMAAJ }}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100127095111/http://www.paris.fr/portail/english/Portal.lut?page_id=8118 Official Paris website]
• [https://planningforparisdotcom.wordpress.com/2014/08/01/paris-arrondissements/ Website showing location, numbering conventions, and general info for arrondissements]

{{Administrative division of Île-de-France}}{{Arrondissements of France}}

{{Paris}}

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Administration