Paris Politician Wants to Turn Abandoned Metro Stations Into Attractions

Paris might soon give tourists a reason to look underground instead up and around at the city of lights.

Paris mayoral candidate Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet announced earlier this month a plan to turn the city's 11 deserted metro stations into public spaces. The politician worked with architect Manal Rachdi and urban planner Nicolas Laisné to create renderings of proposed renovations.

The revitalized stations could become the home of nightclubs, art galleries, five-star restaurants, theaters, or swimming pools.

The proposal is similar to other urban renewal projects such as New York City's High Line, which turned an old train track into an urban park and one of the city's most visited locations.

The firm behind the design, OXO Architectes, references the next stage of the NYC project, the Lowline, on its website:

At a time when New-York is talking about the 'Lowline', why couldn't Paris profit from its underground potential and invent new functions for these abandoned places? This is about a slow transformation, to find, as opportunities arise, a new and thrilling way to take possession of these places.

The project has been so well-received it may come to life even if Kosciusko-Morizet is not elected.