The nice European cities inform tales of prosperity and development, but additionally of profound inequalities. Milan, Paris, Athens and Madrid present how financial and cultural facilities can coexist with suburbs marked by housing precariousness, issue in accessing companies and social marginalisation. From the Parisian banlieues to the Milanese working-class neighborhoods, from the Athenian suburbs to the Madrid outskirts, a standard thread emerges: city growth typically advances sooner than the social material, producing “two-speed” cities the place alternatives will not be distributed equally. Analyzing incomes, entry to housing, transport and public areas, these reviews provide a comparative have a look at how the suburbs of European metropolises expertise a double actuality, between wealth and fragility. After the primary episode devoted to Milan, under is the reportage on Paris.
Paris is the cultural, historic and financial coronary heart of France. The metropolis attracts investments, tourism and innovation, however past the Champs-Élysées, the boulevards and the luxurious districts, there may be one other actuality. The banlieues – working-class suburbs – inform a posh story of social and financial inequalities, post-colonial immigration, city renewal and group resilience.
“The banlieue is a village where everyone knows each other, where there are criminals, liars, kind people and bad people. Where there are stories that are handed down, misfortunes and joys”, explains Rachid Laïreche, a Libération journalist initially from Montreuil, a municipality within the Seine-Saint-Denis. “A village where there are more poor people than anywhere else”.
Economic and social inequalities
Seine-Saint-Denis, generally known as “Neuf-trois” (93), is the poorest division in metropolitan France: out of 1.6 million inhabitants, 27.6% dwell under the poverty line, in comparison with a nationwide common of 15.4%. In Aubervilliers, for instance, 10% of households survive on lower than 609 euros a month. “The fact that these are precarious, poor neighborhoods says many things,” observes Héléna Berkaoui, journalist and editor-in-chief of the Bondy Blog, born following the 2005 riots. “There are very strong social dynamics: neighborhood ties, solidarity between the inhabitants, informal networks of mutual help.”
Yet, regardless of their proximity to the middle of Paris, the neighborhoods endure from structural deficiencies. There is an absence of faculty workers, medical doctors, police forces and magistrates: there are solely 49.8 basic practitioners per 100 thousand inhabitants, in comparison with the nationwide common of 83.5. Courts are on the breaking point and industrial infrastructures, information facilities, incinerators and highways, expose the inhabitants to air pollution, scorching warmth and vitality insecurity.
https://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/le-banlieues-volto-nascosto-parigi-sempre-piu-fragili-AI3f0IUB