Paris & the Suburbs

Why?

• Architecture as control 
• Political Movement's use of form to create and shape context
• Physical and lasting presence 
• Twists and turns of research

Background - Colonial North Africa

• Dual City - European vs. Local, Civilized vs. Non-Civilized
• Housing Projects
• Police Action
• Rhetoric

Background - Banlieues

• Paris - Suburbs
• Demographics - Poorest Populations, Immigrants, Least Education
• Stigma - Lack of access to society and resources
• Riots - 2005

Theory

• Gidden's Structuration
• Mumford's "What is a City"
• Post-Colonialism

Built Environment - Housing

• Lack of availability or affordability
• Lack of ownership or individuality
• Overcrowded, run down
• Similar to housing projects in colonies
• Lack of agency to decide where and how one lives

Built environment- public space

• Spaces of control
• Inability to act freely or move about
• No agency in utilization of spaces for community 

School

• Highest rate of drop outs; lowest educational goals
• Lack of trained teachers and support systems
• Discrimination within the system
• Agency constrained in the easiest place to assert it
• Long term effects

Transportation

• Lack of adequate transportation to and from city
• Timing and metro stops
• Discrimination - Security and Users 
• Agency constrained through inability to freely move

Police Interactions

• Racial/Ethnic Discrimination (Open Society Study)
• Searches and surveillance
• 2005 Riots
• Aftermath
• Agency limited by fear for physical safety and social structure

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