MAPPING DIVIDES: EXPLORING THE NEGATIVE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF PARIS’S URBAN LAYOUT

Leila Branfoot (OHS)

Some would argue that wherever imaginary lines are drawn on a map, the consequent divides between individuals and communities are very real indeed. It is true that maps usually intend to reflect our common reality for practical and informative purposes, however, they also have a hand in creating it. Here, I refer to the role mapping and urban planning can play in reinforcing stigma, stereotypes and ghettoisation, where particular groups of people, often from minority groups, find themselves living confined to a specific area of a city in poor social and economic conditions. A widespread method of managing sprawling cities is to map them in subsections of the whole, and what better example of this than France’s capital city, Paris, whose core is separated into arrondissements. This division originated in 1790, during the reforms of the French revolution, but at this time there were just twelve districts. Major restructuring came about in 1860, when, commissioned by Emperor Napoleon III, Baron Haussman had Paris’s toll walls pulled down and incorporated the surrounding villages into the city. The resulting map of twenty divisions, spiralling clockwise outwards from the central 1st arrondissement, is a part of Paris’s unique character. However, the system, devised now over 200 years ago, is also a source of tension. With the separation of a city into constituent parts, it emphasizes the idea of fundamental difference between neighbourhoods. Stereotypes and suspicion build around particular districts, often with a class or racial aspect, depending on the populations that live there - for example, anti-semitic abuse against established Jewish communities in Parisian arrondissements such as the 4th is unfortunately a regular occurence. People make assumptions about places on the map without ever having visited them, which is fueled by online content and even Microsoft’s GPS navigation app, dubbed “Avoid the ghetto” by critics, which allows the user to adapt their walking routes to avoid areas which are “economically challenged” or have high crime rates, patented in 2012 amidst much controversy . The spread of negative place image by the internet and the media means that tourism and therefore investment remain low in traditionally poor districts of cities, who find it difficult to shake off these perceptions and reinvent themselves. Maps are inextricably linked with governance - how the authorities aim to run the city determines how said city is mapped, and how a city is mapped influences how the authorities go about governing it. In Paris, each arrondissement has its own town hall, directly-elected council and mayor - there is of course an additional overarching Conseil de Paris, but many Parisians feel still that this municipal system has left the city lacking cohesion and unable to deal with the city’s problems as a whole. It is important to consider, when looking at any map, what is not included on it; what lies at the edges and beyond. In Paris, the suburbs are not part of the arrondissement system, instead they are mapped as belonging to the ring of three départements (Hautsde-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne) surrounding inner Paris. They are physically set apart from central Paris by the périphérique (ringroad) and are governed separately. London has large suburbs, yet considers them a vital part of the city. Clearly, Paris sees things differently - despite the two cities being roughly the same size, the mayor of Paris represents just the 2.2 million people living within the boundaries of the arrondissements only, whilst the mayor of London governs all of the city’s 8.8 million inhabitants . The origins of this gulf between the inner city and the suburbs can be traced back, of course, to the 1860 remapping of Paris, when the city’s immediate surroundings were welcomed into the arrondissement system of the city core, and new peripheries emerged in previously open space due to urban sprawl. Poorer communities found themselves ousted to the outskirts - an area which became referred to as the banlieues (“place of the banned”), illustrating how inhabitants were, and remain, both physically (in terms of distance) and culturally excluded. Baron Haussman employed the power of the straight line to transform inner Paris, building the grand boulevards, which became the basis of the city’s carefully considered spacial zoning originally designed to separate the rich from the poor. This tactic was maintained by Paris urban planners during the post-war years of 1945-75, but this time out in the suburbs, as they commandeered projects to build vast

neighbourhoods of poor-quality high-rises, which were essentially ghettos to accommodate immigrants from north Africa and other ex-French colonies looking for work in France. Deindustrialisation and economic restructuring began in France in the 1980s and the banlieues have suffered particularly badly ever since. Unemployment levels are regularly twice the national average, poverty rates are high and educational achievement low, alongside a disproportionate representation of ethnic minorities.

Aside from racial segregation, another issue that arose with this planning strategy was a lack of transport connections with the inner city and between suburbs - the banlieues were not sufficiently considered when mapping public transport services. Clichy-sous-Bois in the Seine-Saint-Denis département, for example, lacks both a tram stop and a train station, having no direct links to central Paris whatsoever. Though the suburb is just ten miles from Notre Dame, journey times can be up to two hours. Banlieue residents usually become either reliant on cars, the additional costs of which can consume up to 20% of the average household income in outer Paris , or find themselves restricted to the vicinity. A lack of mobility reduces social integration between districts, and more importantly, hugely narrows job opportunities. Thus, the suburbs are further disadvantaged, simply because of their location on the map and poor urban planning. The physical exclusion of the banlieues from the traditional map of Paris is a potent symbol of their rejection from the city, rooted in the past, and perpetuated in the present. It is no wonder that these spatial inequalities, driven by race and class prejudice, have led to a strong feeling of alienation and anger in the Parisian suburbs. In 2005, the situation came to a head when two teenagers were killed running from the police in Clichy-sous-Bois. This triggered three weeks of rioting on Paris estates, in which 9000 vehicles, municipal buildings and businesses went up in flames . It was a clear sign of a marginalised generation, filled with rage and despair for the way the city failed them. Even once the riots were extinguished, tensions in the banlieues remained high, and have flared up regularly in the past 15 years. For too long, the suburbs have been treated as if they are not a part of Paris at all, just places without context, purpose or opportunity. They have only appeared in the headlines on occasion of violence and vandalism. If Paris wants to solve its problems once and for all, it must accept the banlieues with open arms, create meaningful change for residents and put them on the map - for positive reasons. Bibliography:

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