A City of Light and Shadow: State Control and Informal Urbanism in the Advent of Parisian Suburbs (1850s–1970s)

Largely, the urban growth of Paris was characterised by the undisciplined development of its peripheries through processes comparable to what we today refer to as informal urbanisation. Largely triggered by the renewal and consequent expulsion of the working classes to the periphery in the central decades of the nineteenth century, these processes were soon considered a threat by the authorities, who developed successive regulations to contain, outlaw and demolish these spaces. As institutional urbanism only partially managed to control their development, these spaces continued expanding until the majority of their inhabitants were resettled to social housing during the 1970s. The history of the informal urbanisation of Paris is a dark mark on the city’s glamorous narrative. Largely sidelined, its footprint is still present today. The city peripheries, still marginalised, periodically rebel against the very present stigmas of the former informal city.

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