North African Migration and the Bidonvilles in Paris's Banlieues

What is it about?

Saint-Denis and Asnieres-sur-Seine, two suburbs of Paris, undertook massive urban renovation projects in the 1950s and 60s to rid their cities of bidonvilles, the shantytowns that housed large numbers of North African migrant workers and their families. The cities' programs reflected fundamental differences in how they understood these migrants' relationship to their communities.

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Why is it important?

This comparison emphasizes the multiplicity of local French reactions to incoming North African migrants and thus the existence of a variety of models for incorporating migrants into local and national communities.