UNESCO-supported culture directive Gastronomic Meal of France (RGF) is gearing up to develop Paris’s first food-focused city within a city.

The new 17.3-acre centre, which will rise in the city’s Rungis International Market, will be designed by architects Denis Huerre and F8 Architecture and will feature a 1,200-seat auditorium, multiple gardens, green areas, restaurants, and exhibition spaces.

The estimated €70m mixed-used development will also include a gastronomy school, banquet hall, and production studio.

According to RGF – which is already supporting similar projects in the French cities of Tours, Lyon, and Dijon – the future leisure, social, and educational hub will "mobilise the public" around traditional French cuisine and facilitate the spread of ideas about sustainability and the "food of tomorrow".

The project traces its origins to France’s "intangible cultural heritage" memoranda, which was ratified by UNESCO in 2006. The Cities of Gastronomy network was officially launched in 2013.

The Paris-Rungis project is anticipated to be completed in 2024.