A chronicle of the controversies and failures that riddled the renovation of Les Halles in Paris, a protracted process that lasted for almost two decades.

Françoise Fromonot looks into the causes behind the misconduct in the renovation of Les Halles from 2000 to 2016, showing readers the fallout: an underground train station transformed into the vestibule of a shopping mall; public infrastructure and municipal equipment relegated to the higher floors of a "Forum" (never did a place less merit its name); a park where no one ever lingers, bristling with surveillance cameras and dotted with ventilation shafts... These are the scars of an operation that ended in the increased privatization and standardization of public spaces throughout the French capital.