What will Paris look like twenty years from now?

This is the challenge that French president Sarkozy offered to ten prominent architecture and town planning firms. They presented their ideas earlier this month.

I love Paris and call the city home, so the proposals interest me keenly.

There's an official site, but it's ungainly and user unfriendly and weighted heavily in favor of still and moving images of politicians. Comparison and synthesis have been relegated to a page that's "under construction". There's some official video, but it's hard to use. The press, especially l'Express, offers coverage that's incomplete but more accessible.

But travelers who will be coming to Paris later this year will be able to join Paris residents at the Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine. The various submissions by the architects and planners will be on display there from May through November. This museum is in the Palais de Chaillot, across from the Eiffel Tower, and is open daily except Tuesday.

Sarkozy's initiative –Le Grand Pari– used a clever play on words: in French, "Paris" (the city) and "pari" (a bet, a wager), sound the same. So "the big Paris" or "greater Paris" sounds the same as "the big bet".