Paris Approves Redesign for Eiffel Tower Site

The "OnE" project, led by British landscape architects Gustafson Porter + Bowman, is driven by a powerful creative concept: unifying the site by blending two distinct French garden typologies. The design marries the formal, axis-driven gardens that express power with the picturesque, experimental gardens known for fostering biodiversity and artistic expression. The plan will forge a continuous green corridor from the Place du Trocadéro to the École Militaire. Key features include transforming the Pont d'Iéna into a tree-lined promenade for pedestrians, creating a green amphitheater at the Trocadéro, and adding extensive new lawns and over 200 trees across the 54-hectare site. However, the project was significantly amended following widespread public opposition. Initial plans included the construction of new tourist facilities and offices at the foot of the tower, which would have required felling around 20 mature trees, some more than a century old. The proposed tree removal sparked a backlash from environmental and heritage groups, including SOS Paris. A petition against the plan gathered nearly 150,000 signatures, and one activist staged a hunger strike in a 200-year-old plane tree to protest its potential destruction. In response to the outcry, Paris's city hall ultimately canceled the construction of any new buildings. The core landscaping and greening elements of the project are proceeding, aiming for completion of the first phase in time for the 2024 Paris Olympics, but the controversial commercial structures have been scrapped entirely. This debate echoes the tower's origin for the 1889 World's Fair, when it was famously denounced by a committee of 300 artists and writers as a "useless and monstrous" factory chimney that would disfigure Paris.