Metropolitics

From “Black City” to “Slum City”: The Importance of Image in Saint-Étienne

2017-09-20T05:00:00Z

In December 2014, an article in the French daily newspaper Le Monde painted a highly negative portrait of the city of Saint-Étienne, in south-eastern France, generating considerable controversy and intense mobilization. Vincent Béal, Christelle Morel Journel and Valérie Sala Pala place these reactions within the context of a long history of image-related stakes in local society and politics, and highlight the contrasting approaches adopted by inhabitants and local elites in response to the

- From the Field / France, media, image, Saint-Étienne, mobilization, shrinking cities, post-fordisme, urban decline, urban shrinkage, degrowth, shrinkage, stigma, stigmatization, post-Fordism

The complex representations of working-class residential towers

Rachid Kaddour & translated by Oliver Waine — 2016-02-26T05:55:00Z

Rachid Kaddour's analysis of the trajectory of perceptions of the Plein‑Ciel tower in Saint‑Étienne in south-eastern France shows that certain housing tower blocks can take on a system of representations that is far more complex than the often deprecating views presented in discourse intended to legitimize urban renewal.
---- Series: The Resurgence of Towers in European Cities The general image of towers in France is still very much associated with blocks of working-class housing, owing to

- From the Field / France, monument, housing projects, urban renewal, housing estates, towers, representations, Saint-Étienne

Beyond the stadium: how “ultra” supporters fit into the urban space

Bérangère Ginhoux & translated by Oliver Waine — 2015-12-11T05:55:00Z

Based on an ethnographic survey conducted in Saint-Étienne, in south-eastern France, Bérangère Ginhoux shows how the activities of “ultras” groups extend beyond the stadium and are very much present in the urban space. She describes their quest for visibility in the public space and reveals how the city becomes the object of a symbolic competition between different groups.
Claiming to be part of a movement that emerged in Italian football stadiums in the 1960s and present in France since the

- From the Field / France, public space, local attachment, territory, sport, use of space, supporters, football, ultras, Saint-Étienne, social group