1. France’s HLM

2.  What are some of the terms we have for subsidized housing?  Subsidized Housing - Government supported housing for people with low to moderate incomes  Terms

3.  What are some of the terms we have for subsidized housing?  Subsidized Housing - Government supported housing for people with low to moderate incomes  Terms  Ghetto

4.  What are some of the terms we have for subsidized housing?  Subsidized Housing - Government supported housing for people with low to moderate incomes  Terms  Ghetto  Slum

5.  What are some of the terms we have for subsidized housing?  Subsidized Housing - Government supported housing for people with low to moderate incomes  Terms  Ghetto  Slum  Inner City

6.  Francophone term meaning “outskirts”  Linguistically implies the English equivalent of “suburbs”  Euphemism for France’s centers of urban decay  Low income housing is pushed out of the urban centers and isolated in the distant reaches outside the cities  Fundamentally different from American “inner city” housing

7.  Habitation à Loyer Modéré – “housing at moderated rents”  Four million residences  Fourteen million people  One quarter of France’s population  Half of France’s rented housing  Mostly immigrants from North and West Africa

8.  Aftermath of WWII  The war in France and the German occupation resulted in enormous damage to the city  French colonies in North and West Africa provide abundant and cheap labor  Muslim and Black Africans seeking better jobs and French citizenship arrive en masse to begin repairs  Bidonvilles, a Francophone term for shantytowns, grow outside cities in response to the lack of available or affordable housing.

9.  Hasty construction beginning in the early fifties and growing rapidly to keep up with demand often fell short of expectations.  In 1968, only 41% of these residences have running water and sanitation. It would be a decade before that figure rose to 80%.

10.  To reduce construction costs, large complexes were built in simplistic rectangles and assembled le chemin de grue (“by way of the crane”)  This allowed a crane on a single track to construct both sides of the building simultaneously.

11.  Budget cuts and general apathy led to many aspects of construction to remain unfinished resulting in large amounts of dead space.

12.  Cut off from the city and isolated within their empty environments, the youth populace of France’s many HLMs are unemployed and without constructive outlets.

13.  1995 film by Mathiue Kassovitz  Shows the mounting tension between France’s disaffected youths and their police force  Contrasts the architecture and environment of the banlieues with the urban centers of Paris  http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=1gFenEV 9N2U&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=1gFenEV 9N2U&feature=related

14.  The abundant policing of the banlieues coupled with antagonistic and overly abusive police finally reached its boiling point in October 2005.  After police killed two fleeing youths of African descent, the banlieues responded.

15.  The resulting riots lasted for almost three weeks.  200 million Euros in damages  9000 cars burned  2900 arrests  126 injured police and firefighters  1 innocent bystander killed

16.  The design of France’s banlieues represents a system of political architecture where active design choices and unchecked apathy have created a system of oppression.  Isolation from urban centers and activities coupled with an inability to find employment results in a disaffected youth population at odds with an antagonistic cop force.

17.  http//:riotsfrance.ssrc.org  http//:wikipedia.com  McCoy, Heather. “La Haine.” French Culture Through Film. Penn State University Park. December 10, 2009.

18.  French parkour http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM5aYOI bklI&annotation_id=annotation_874301&feat ure=iv 2:15 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM5aYOI bklI&annotation_id=annotation_874301&feat ure=iv  Russian parkour http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVQNt64 PxfE 2:04 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVQNt64 PxfE