From a reading of this book, Paris Île-de-France emerges as a metropolitan region similar in many ways to other world cities with which it is generally compared, such as London and New York. Like them, it has to deal with problems of transport and mobility, a housing crisis and difficult environmental conditions. Like them, but to lesser degrees, it is characterized by significant and growing poverty and sometimes ostentatious wealth.

Like the other big metropolitan regions in democratic countries, Île-de-France tackles these problems and manages this territory by means of a system of governance that is complex and calls upon multiple actors, both public and private, at different scales. Whether as providers of skills and responsibilities or of finance, this multitude of actors operates within a web of relationships marked often by significant conflict but also by extensive cooperation. Within this crowd of actors, the state stands out through the resources it holds, be they political, legal, technical or financial. Contrary to a popular view that has spread since the 1980s, the state has not disappeared, and, if remodelling there has been, this is to maintain an often crucial presence in the conduct of metropolitan affairs. The 2008 financial crisis and the recent Covid-19 health crisis clearly show the extent to which the state remains a central and powerful player, the only one capable of undertaking measures and policies to tackle situations that affect metropolitan regions more severely because of their economic influence and demographic density.

Nevertheless, all these similarities should not lead us to ignore the distinctive features of France's premier metropolitan region – features that have been identified, developed and analysed throughout this book. In many respects, these singularities set Paris apart within the small circle of the Northern Hemisphere's big metropolitan regions. There are at least five main differences that account for this distinctiveness.

First, there is Paris's ultra-dominant position on the national stage and relative to the country's other big cities. This dominance, unrivalled for centuries, is explained, as we have seen, by the history of the construction of the French state, which made Paris – and, by extension, Île-de-France – not only its political capital but also its administrative, economic, social and cultural centre.