Translation of the French article by Jacques Rouchaud
We pour concrete, we dig, we pile up. Around Paris, construction sites are multiplying: about 200 kilometres of new metro lines, dozens of stations, towers, entire neighbourhoods rising from the ground. This is presented to us as the future. It is an aberration.
A bill that is exploding
In 2013, the government set the cost of the Grand Paris metro at 22.6 billion euros. By 2017, the Court of Audit (Cour des comptes) found 38.5 billion, that is 51% more. And the bill has kept climbing ever since. The debt will run for decades: it is our children and our grandchildren who will pay it.
Power and selfishness
Why so much madness? Because every elected official wants his station, his tower, his grand project, his name on a plaque. The bigger the metropolis grows, the greater the power of those who run it. It is not the interest of the inhabitants that guides these choices, it is the selfishness of the empire builders.
Building for a crowd that will not come
Meanwhile, populations are beginning to decline. In 2025, France recorded more deaths than births, a first since the end of the Second World War. Fertility has fallen to 1.56 children per woman. In 63 countries, including China, Germany, Japan and Russia, the population has already reached its peak. And according to the UN, the world population itself will begin to fall after the 2080s.
A single metropolis is being enlarged endlessly for a population that, tomorrow, will be smaller.
Concrete against life
Every hectare covered in concrete is land lost: no more trees, no more fields, no more water seeping into the soil. Concrete, steel and asphalt store heat, and the city becomes an oven in summer. Nature is destroyed to manufacture heat.
And while people are crammed together on one side, the other side is abandoned: villages empty, schools close, shops disappear, public services leave.
Demosciocracy: balancing the living areas
Demosciocracy does the opposite, in France as in every country. It spreads life across the whole country, instead of piling it into a single metropolis.
The territory is the foundation. The country is organised into territories, 352 for France, each with its Council of the Territory. Responsibility is exercised as close as possible to citizens: there is no longer any need to go and live in the metropolis to find a hospital, a school or a job.
Resources for all territories. Each territory receives an allocation calculated according to the same rule for all, taking into account its population and its area. Rural territories thus have the means to maintain their roads, their networks and their services.
Emulation for quality of life. Territories are compared using the same indicators, including quality of life, the satisfaction of the population and the quality of the environment. The five best are rewarded. Pouring concrete for no reason no longer pays.
The planet and future generations. Decisions must take future generations into account and respect the limits of the resources that the planet can sustainably provide.
Everyone’s freedom. This is not about moving people by force: every citizen remains free to live where he wants. It is about making every territory lively enough that people want to stay there or come there.
Conclusion
Rather than endlessly enlarging one metropolis for the glory of a few, demosciocracy balances the living areas across the whole country. Less concrete, more trees, living territories, and a population spread out where life is good.
Liberty — Equality — Truth
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