The Impact of Social Mix Policies in France

Abstract

In France, a Housing Act, called Solidarité et Renouvellement Urbain (Solidarity and Urban Renewal), came into force in 2000. Its main aim is to challenge segregation in housing and to strengthen solidarity among citizens. It promotes a tenure mix through legal requirements: in urban areas, every commune should reach a minimum of 20 per cent social housing in its housing stock before 2020. This paper attempts to explain why policy makers believe in the virtues of a tenure mix. The second aim is to assess the discrepancies between the rhetorical level of policy aims and the pragmatic level of policy outputs, raising methodological issues on the relevance of the communal scale for the measure of segregation and social mix. The conclusion raises paradoxical issues: social class segmentation resists social mixing more strongly than ethnic segmentation; the French social mix policy strengthens ghettos and hinders the right to decent housing for the very poor.

Negotiation and social transactions in urban policies: the case of the tramway projects in France

“…The first one deals with a social prism: to facilitate connections between the different districts (especially economically depressed suburbs, confronted with images of violence and urban decay) and the city centre, as well as to support a social mix and more variety of exchanges. In this sense, collective transport services and their (material and social) accessibility are considered as an efficient tool for the implementation of the politique de la ville, defined by the French government, in close contact with local authorities, the private sector and community associations, as a way of conciliation of local economic development with the social development of the suburbs (Blanc 2010). The second frame is more environmentally oriented: the tram is seen as a key instrument to support clean public transport, to reduce automobile congestion and urban air pollution, if not to make the city a 'green' one -in accordance with locally spread principles (even if partially and selectively) of sustainable development (Hamman 2009(Hamman , 2012.…”

Social Housing Production in Terms of Constructive Demolition and Quality of Life: The Example of Istanbul

“…Whitehead ve Scanlon'a göre [36] gelişmiş ülkelerdeki sosyal konut uygulamalarında ortak yönler bulunmakla beraber, her bir ülkede aynı şekilde geçerli olan standart bir sosyal konut uygulama ve politikası söz konusu olmamıştır [36]. Bazı ülkelerde toplumun yalnızca en yoksul kesimi bu konutlardan yararlanabilirken, bazı ülkelerde düşük ücretli kesimler, bazı ülkelerde de orta gelir düzeyine sahip kesimler de bu konutlardan yararlanabilmektedir [33][34][35][36][37].…”

A Theory of Socio‐spatial Integration: Problems, Policies and Concepts from a US Perspective

“…In more general terms, several authors have criticized the vast gap that exists between policy rhetoric and effective policy outcomes (Blanc, 2010;Bolt, Phillips and van Kempen, 2010). Integration has been proven not to be a mechanical consequence of desegregation (Lemanski, 2006a).…”