Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Landscaping Discontent: Parks and Protest Movements in Paris

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Under the supervision of Dr.Ida Susser, Andrew Newman, a doctoral candidate in cultural anthropology at the City University of New York, is pursuing comparative research on the relation between urban land-use disputes and ethnic, racial, and class politics. The project compares urban land use disputes in Paris, France, with similar disputes in New York City. In New York City, where research is complete, Newman found that a social movement to improve a section of the city gained momentum and influence only when the neighborhood gentrified and the movement became more white and middle-class. Thus increasing democraticization of city planning was associated with marginalization of the poor and powerless. This award is to support the comparative French phase of the project.This project is a case study of a social movement that arose in the multi-ethnic northern outskirts of Paris. The movement demanded that the city build a park over an abandoned industrial site. The movement was successful, but, as in New York City, the success was concurrent with the gentrification of the surrounding area. Historically, the district has been home to working class residents, many of them residents of Maghrebi and of West African descent. The researcher will do participant observation and ethnographic interviews with activists and residents to investigate social, political, and economic transformation in the neighborhood. In addition, he will interview local experts, including municipal authorities, architects, and those who chose the park design.The research will compare how urban redevelopment occurs and is contested in these two post-industrial, globalized societies with differing urban and social policy, differing histories of immigration and racial politics, but similar experience with recent rebuilding and reinvestment in low-income urban areas. It will contribute to research on the intertwined social, economic, and political transformations of contemporary cities. Through collaborations with researchers in France, the project also aims to build a bridge between French and American anthropology and urban research. In addition to its academic contribution, the results of this project are intended to be informative for urban planners, urban policymakers, and community leaders in both France and the United States.