Metropolitics

Haiti after the earthquake: camps, shanty towns and housing shortages

Gerry L'Étang & translated by Oliver Waine — 2012-05-02T09:14:17Z

In Haiti, in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, public squares became the sites of makeshift camps to provide shelter to victims made homeless by the disaster. Since then, their status has changed to become places of hope of justice in the face of the inequalities of a nationwide housing shortage. As in other contexts, occupying public spaces appears to be a means of fighting for the right to housing.
On 12 January 2010 at 4.53 p.m., Haiti suffered the most devastating natural disaster in

- From the Field / camps, catastrophe, refugees, public space, housing, disaster, risk, shanty town, displaced population, Haiti, natural risks

“Cités de transit”: the urban treatment of poverty during decolonisation

Muriel Cohen & Cédric David & translated by Oliver Waine — 2012-03-28T04:55:00Z

At a time of profound housing crisis in the 1950s, cités de transit were adopted as a means of rehousing Algerian families from cleared bidonvilles. The background of this measure – at the crossroads between colonial legacy, a long history of education through housing, and the Algerian War – explains the enduring stigma associated with it.
---- Series: How the Algerian War shaped French cities “Social rehabilitation projects”, “short-term housing”, “rehousing estates”, “virtual prisons”,

- Essays / bidonville, housing, cités de transit, Algerian War, shanty town, slum, transition estates

“Bidonvilles”: from colonial policy to the Algerian War

Françoise de Barros & translated by Oliver Waine — 2012-03-21T07:07:58Z

The term bidonville (literally a town built of oil drums) originated in North Africa in the 1930s and came into use in mainland France in the 1950s to designate neighbourhoods composed of temporary, makeshift housing, particularly housing that accommodated Algerians. Here, Françoise de Barros shows that the management of these bidonvilles by the public authorities was situated at the crossroads between a colonial legacy and constraints associated with the Algerian War.
---- Series: How the

- Essays / bidonville, Nanterre, colonisation, local councillors, Algerian War, shanty town

The police and the “Algerian medinas” in France. Argenteuil, 1957–1962

Emmanuel Blanchard & translated by Oliver Waine — 2012-03-07T05:55:00Z

Fifty years after the end of the Algerian War of Independence, it should not be forgotten that this conflict was also played out in mainland France. Here, Emmanuel Blanchard shows the extent to which the control of territories with a strong Algerian presence was a key aspect of the war.
---- Series: How the Algerian War shaped French cities From the 1920s onwards, the town of Argenteuil, in the north-western suburbs of Paris, was one of the main places in the Paris region where migrants from

- Essays / segregation, housing, police, transport, Sonacotra, Algerian War, shanty town, lodging houses, workers' hostel