Sarkozy's dream for Paris: Croydon-sur-Seine

The French president, an anglophile, has invited leading British architects to "gentrify" the areas surrounding Paris in an effort to convince middle-class people to move out of the city centre. 

Mr Sarkozy also wants more workers to move farther into the capital to recreate the "melting pot" of London.

Croydon-sur-Seine?: Sarkozy wants to model romantic Paris on Croydon

The architects are proposing highrise suburbs modelled on Croydon, and suggest building an orbital railway to link them.

Professor Richard Burdett, design chief for the London Olympics and one of the experts working on the "Greater Paris" project with the Richard Rogers architecture practice, said: "The notion of mixing different types of people and activity, so that people are cheek by jowl, makes a city over time much more tolerant and resilient to change.

Ideal: Nicolas Sarkozy's vision for romantic Paris is Croydon

"That's why the melting pot model you see in London and New York works so well. It's much more mixed than Paris."

One of the British team's proposals is to create a body modelled on Transport for London, which could run a transport system for the greater Paris region.

A new suburban orbital railway, similar to London's rebranded Overground network, would improve links between the city's satellite towns.

The Rogers team is also investigating proposals for reducing the city's carbon emissions, including local renewable energy plants, and a congestion charge inspired by the success of the London system.

"Trying to wean the French off their cars will be a real challenge," said Lennart Grut, the architect leading the project for the Rogers' practice. "You have to get the transport right first."

The team proposes to restrict highdensity urban centres to brownfield sites and is focusing on a selection of towns, including the rough suburb of Saint-Denis, that could be built up into high-rise "hubs" like Croydon.