Metropolitics

France's Housing Projects Recounted Through Postcards

Florine Ballif & translated by Oliver Waine — 2026-04-21T05:00:00Z

The selection of postcards presented by Renaud Epstein in his book On est bien arrivés (“We've arrived safely”) invites us to look at France's large postwar social housing projects and their inhabitants from a different, more sensitive perspective, far removed from the usual stereotypes.
This original book sheds light on a forgotten—even ignored—object: postcards showcasing France's postwar social housing projects, or “grands ensembles”. In this book, political scientist Renaud Epstein

- Reviews / architecture, banlieue, grands ensembles, heritage, urban heritage, public housing, suburbs, social housing, urban planning, urbanism, photography, memory

A Masterpiece in Peril: The Garden Suburb of La Butte-Rouge

Renaud Epstein & translated by Oliver Waine — 2026-02-24T06:00:00Z

La Butte-Rouge, built in the mid-20th century in Paris's southern suburbs, is the archetypal example of a French cité-jardin. In a recent work retracing its history, Élise Guillerm highlights the urban and architectural qualities of this eco-neighborhood before its time, whose very existence is now threatened by an urban renewal project.
Analysis of urban policies, and particularly urban renewal policies, dispels the idea that historical knowledge can prevent the repetition of past mistakes.

- Reviews / urban planning, cité-jardin, HLM, urban heritage, heritage, Châtenay-Malabry, Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France, social housing, sustainable development, garden city, garden suburb, France, Paris region, Paris, history, urban history, environment, urban renewal, landscape

Dakar, Portrait of a Capital City

Armelle Choplin — 2025-09-12T05:00:00Z

Dakar, métamorphoses d'une capitale, by architects Carole Diop and Xavier Ricou, takes readers on a journey through the history of the Senegalese capital, from pre‑colonial Lebu villages to contemporary urban laboratory.
In their book Dakar, métamorphoses d'une capitale, Senegalese architects Carole Diop and Xavier Ricou present a masterful exploration of Dakar. Through meticulous archival research and iconography, the authors explore the lesser-known history of the former West African

- Reviews / Dakar, housing, history, housing policy, heritage, Africa, culture, urban planning, urban growth, West Africa, Senegal

The Paris of Yesteryear: A Photographic Inventory

Pauline Rossi & translated by Oliver Waine — 2024-05-14T05:00:00Z

The Commission du Vieux Paris has kept meticulous records of urban transformations, with its own perception of what constitutes heritage. Since 2022, some 11,000 geolocated photographs from its collection have been made available online, enabling a virtual historic visit of urban renewal projects.
In Paris, a municipal committee called the Commission du Vieux Paris (Old Paris Commission) was created in 1897 to advise the prefecture (covering the former Seine département), and later the city

- From the Field / Paris, history, photography, heritage, urban history, urban heritage

The Politics of Urban Heritage-Making in the Yongqingfang Redevelopment Project in Guangzhou, China

Yimeng Yang — 2022-03-29T05:00:00Z

Yimeng Yang uses the case of a redevelopment project in Guangzhou, China, to interrogate heritage-led urban development, pointing to the conflicts such development strategies provoke among local residents, government actors, and developers.
China has been experiencing a dramatic “heritage boom” in recent years. As China's global aspirations grow, the government has become increasingly adept at using heritage to consolidate political legitimacy, construct national identity, and demonstrate

- From the Field / China, heritage, urban heritage, redevelopment, Guangzhou

Nantes' urban project: putting the Bilbao model to the test

Amélie Nicolas & translated by Oliver Waine — 2014-11-13T05:50:00Z

The experiences of Bilbao and its urban transformations have been shared and integrated into the urban-planning cultures of numerous European cities. In Nantes, the success of Bilbao initially inspired much of the strategic thinking and planning for the Île de Nantes project, until criticisms of the “Bilbao model” began to come to the fore, ultimately leading to the development of a “Nantes-style urban planning” that takes account of the city's specificities – and which could even be considered

- From the Field / urban planning, urban renewal, urban regeneration, heritage, Nantes, Bilbao, urban project, dissemination of urban references, flagship facility, culture-based economy, tourism, museum

Using heritage status to combat segregation: the case of French housing estates

2014-10-22T04:50:00Z

Challenging the idea that demolishing housing estates is all it takes to eradicate the social problems with which they are associated, the authors here instead argue for collective housing schemes to be recognised as heritage assets so that they can be renovated and returned to their original function as places of good-quality housing.
Today, it is acknowledged that for the last 30 years or more – ever since the first riots in the Lyon suburbs and what the media at the time referred to as

- Debates / France, banlieue, segregation, housing, housing projects, Marseille, social housing, housing estates, Lyon, suburbs, heritage

The metropolisation of “Roma Capitale”: the view from the Tiber delta

Aurélien Delpirou & Dominique Rivière & translated by Oliver Waine — 2013-11-06T05:50:00Z

Far from the stereotype of the “sleeping beauty”, the Italian capital is the scene of an important and unique metropolisation process, the challenges of which Aurélien Delpirou and Dominique Rivière analyse here. How can urban and economic growth be reconciled with the historical legacies of the Eternal City?
On 21 December 2012, a few days before the fall of Mario Monti's administration, the Italian government gave its approval for the extension of Rome Fiumicino international airport and

- From the Field / urban planning, Rome, Italy, territorial development, metropolization, heritage