“Grands Ensembles”: Retracing a History of Rejection

Stéphane Füzesséry & translated by Oliver Waine — 2016-01-15T05:55:00Z

From its very beginnings, the urban model of the “grand ensemble” – the large-scale high-rise housing estate – has appealed to film-makers. For half a century, these films have not only recorded and established image-types but also changed people's representations of these neighbourhoods – and, more generally, their rejection of them.
Reflections – and doubts – concerning urban policy in France currently abound, particularly on the direction that should be taken by the second phase of the

- Reviews / Île-de-France, Paris region, housing projects, urban policy, urban renewal, housing estates, suburbs, neighborhood, representations, cinema

Metropolitics

“Grands Ensembles”: Retracing a History of Rejection