Thursday, July 26, 2012

France: American Villages | European Journal



Published on Jul 25, 2012 by
Val d'Europe is an artificial development just outside Paris - a picture-book village, thought up by the Walt Disney Company and missing just one thing: life.In 1987, when Disney signed a contract with the French government on building Disneyland Paris, its subsidiary running the site set an additional condition. It stipulated that it would have a say in town planning in the surrounding area. What resulted was a model village in pastel tones reminiscent of Barbie doll houses. Everything is neat and tidy and utterly sterile. Val d'Europe is said to have 33,000 residents, most of them young families. But its empty streets most resemble those of a ghost town.

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