Metropolitics

Getting Night Lighting Right

Samuel Challéat & Dany Lapostolle & translated by Oliver Waine — 2018-11-02T06:00:00Z

Innovation in contemporary urban lighting has increasingly been driven by issues of sustainability. While environmental concerns focus attention on energy savings and reducing light pollution, taking account of how people use public spaces is important too, as artificial light can then be adjusted to actual needs. Following the pioneering work of Roger Narboni and Luc Gwiazdzinski, Samuel Challéat and Dany Lapostolle make the case for dedicated nocturnal city planning.
While the contributions

- Essays / France, urban planning, sustainable development, Toulouse, use of space, Grenoble, night, urban temporalities, urban project, lighting

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

Bypassing the city: divisions and divergences in Antananarivo

Catherine Fournet-Guérin & translated by Oliver Waine — 2014-12-04T05:50:00Z

In a context of global competition, major projects are the order of the day, including in the global South. The new bypass road recently built in the Malagasy capital Antananarivo fits into this vision of modernity and aspiration to international standards. But this bypass has become more than just a road; it has been transformed into a recreational space – and consequently a source of conflict.
In the major cities of less-developed countries, highway projects aimed at easing traffic

- From the Field / public space, infrastructures, conflict, Africa, Global South, use of space, Madagascar, Antananarivo, social practices, infrastructure

Château Rouge: a “Little Africa” in Paris?

Marie Chabrol & translated by Oliver Waine — 2013-05-22T04:55:00Z

The Château Rouge area of Paris is regarded as an “African neighbourhood”. But what is the reality behind this image? Marie Chabrol shows that it has less to do with residents' backgrounds than with the commercial uses of the area, which put this district at the heart of large-scale mobilities.
Paris, like any major metropolis, has different neighbourhoods whose images are built and rebuilt around business activities linked to immigration. The Château Rouge area – situated in the shadow of

- From the Field / immigration, public space, Paris region, Paris, mobility, retail, neighborhood, Goutte d'Or, Château Rouge, ethnic retail, user, use of space, centrality