The Original Gentrification Story: Adam Gopnik On The Place Des Vosges In Paris

“History tells us that it is the Cinderella – or, as the French would say, the Cendrillon – of the world’s great squares. It was born to encourage manufacturing, quickly turned into a region for real estate speculation, then given its permanent, completely irrelevant title in one of the most cynical ‘naming opportunities’ ever conceived before the modern football stadium.”