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Privatization of large housing estates in France: towards spatial and residential fragmentation

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Abstract

This paper explores the spatial and residential impact of social-mix and urban renewal policies in large French social housing estates. Tenure diversification is one of the drivers of a privatization process that is leading to an increase in private housing, especially home ownership developments. The wholesale urban restructuring of the modernist conception of high-rise buildings and open public spaces of the 1960s provides another vector. Analyzing the implementation of these two national strategies at large housing estate micro level—partly at La Duchère housing complex in Lyon—sheds light on how the design and location of new housing developments results in fragmentation of “residences” and space. To a certain extent, these social-mix policies exacerbate internal socio-residential differentiation by simply “displacing the stigma”. What is new is rescaling at the level of small “residences” and gating of housing more than the segmentation process itself, which already existed in large housing estates. At the micro-level of large housing estates, this challenges the standardization of urban and social practices through design, the “residualization” of social housing and public space as well as the public management of fragmented space. In a broader context, these changes show how the recent shift in the French social housing model has been embodied in spatial reconfiguration.

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Notes

  1. We use the terms “large housing estates” or “large housing complexes” as a translation of the French term “grands ensembles”, referring mainly to rental social housing built on a massive scale in the 1960s.

  2. "Residual" and "residualization" are concepts developed by UK researchers concerning the neo-liberal policy of reducing the number of social housing units (mainly by selling) and allocating them for the lowest income groups.

  3. In 2014, the urban policy framework shifted to re-establishing large “city contracts” with 3 main focuses: “social cohesion”, “economic development and employment” and “living environment and urban renewal” in 1300 priority neighbourhoods selected based on their poverty rate. Within these more integrated policies, The New Urban Renewal Programme is deployed in 400 of these “priority neighbourhoods”. Large housing estates are part of these poor neighbourhoods and comprise one of the main focuses of urban renewal programmes.

  4. UESL -Action Logement “ The Union of Enterprises for Employees and Housing” manages the employers' financial participation in the construction effort paid by enterprises: the aim is to favor housing access for employees and to participate in the social mix strategy of urban renewal through funding and building private rental housing.

  5. AFL, “Association Foncière Logement” was created in 2002 and is financed by “Action-logement” group. It has a highly specific type of structure and is neither a developer nor a constructor. It participates in social-mixing by producing social rental housing for employees with a long-term aim of using this portfolio to finance retirement pensions.

  6. The National Urban Renewal Agency (ANRU) also includes intermediate rental social housing (PLS) as part of its housing diversification programme, which we have excluded from Table 2 (4.944 social housing units).

  7. Different types of affordable home ownership programs are available as part of a national incentive policy and may be secured through interest-free loans or housing aid, depending on income and family size.

  8. Data extracted from the National Observatory of Priority Neighbourhoods and the project local management (Projet urbain la Duchère, communauté urbaine de Lyon).

  9. In other large housing estates, new private home ownership programs include town houses and, in some cases, individual detached houses.

  10. In 2019, only 10% of all social housing organisations are the required size. The rate of sales has been maintained around 4000 units per year between 1998 and 2009, reaching 8000 units per year from 2012.

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks Christophe Noyé for sharing figures, Jules Jung for his support on the map and Neil O’Brien for the proofreading.

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Lelévrier, C. Privatization of large housing estates in France: towards spatial and residential fragmentation. J Hous and the Built Environ 38, 199–217 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-021-09851-y

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