COMMUNITIES OF RESISTANCE: HOW ORDINARY PEOPLE DEVELOPED CREATIVE RESPONSES TO MARGINALIZATION IN LYON AND PITTSBURGH, 1980-2010 by Daniel Holland Bachelor of Arts, Carnegie Mellon University, 1991 Master of Arts, University of Pittsburgh, 2015 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2019 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH THE KENNETH P. DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Daniel Holland It was defended on March 7, 2019 and approved by Sabina Deitrick, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs Laurence Glasco, Associate Professor, Department of History Rob Ruck, Professor, Department of History Committee Chair: Ted Muller, Professor, Department of History !ii Copyright © by Daniel Holland 2019 !iii Communities of Resistance: How ordinary people developed creative responses to marginalization in Lyon and Pittsburgh, 1980-2010 Daniel Holland, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2019 Abstract In the 1980s and 1990s, several riots erupted in suburbs, or banlieues in French, outside of Lyon, France, involving clashes between youth and police. They were part of a series of banlieue rebellions throughout France during these decades. As a result, to some French the banlieues became associated exclusively with “minority,” otherness, lawlessness, and hopelessness. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the 1980s and 1990s was reeling from a significant loss of manufacturing jobs, an exodus of population, a proliferation of vacant properties, and a widening wealth gap between white and black. Yet, out of this despair, citizens formed new organizations and initiatives to address the decline and negative images of low-income and minority communities, an expression of “social capital.” This dissertation argues that social capital is a form of resistance used by marginalized people to control their communities in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Lyon, France, between 1980 and 2010. Motivated by transnational civil rights campaigns, Alinsky-style organizing techniques, and the formation of innovative associations this dissertation proceeds decade-by- decade, alternating between the experiences of those in Pittsburgh with those of Lyon, to !iv describe low-income residents’ responses to discrimination and economic and social deprivation. These dual narratives of resistance from marginalized communities framed against negative public attitudes about these communities created a tension that permeated both Pittsburgh and Lyon region in the decades between 1980 and 2010. Though archival information, interviews with residents, and site surveys, this dissertation builds upon previous scholarship to show that neither American inner city neighborhoods or French banlieues are simply “ghettos,” “no-go zones,” or “breeding grounds of crime and terrorism,” as they are sometimes called. The reality is that many American inner cities, as well as France’s banlieues, have transformed profoundly within the last thirty years. In the period between 1980 and 2010, improvements in Pittsburgh and Lyon cannot be solely attributed to the efforts of political and corporate elites. As this study shows, residents on the social and economic margins fought back to establish their legitimacy and redirect capitalist intentions that would have otherwise ignored low-income and minority areas. !v Table of Contents Abstract iv List of Tables x List of Figures xi Acknowledgements xiii Motivations and Origins of This Dissertation xvi 1.0 Introduction: Social Capital as a Form of Resistance 1 1.1 Interrelated Threads 2 1.2 Three Key Arguments 6 1.3 Advancing Social Capital 9 1.4 Transnational Expressions of Self-Sufficiency 13 1.5 Making Capitalist Systems Work for Low-Wealth Communities 16 1.6 Focus on Communities in Pittsburgh and Lyon 18 1.7 Demographic Profile of Lyon and Pittsburgh 23 2.0 Prelude to the 1980s: Pittsburgh’s Promise of Housing 37 2.1 Good Intentions 43 2.2 “Progress Fetish” 46 2.3 From Support to Resistance 48 2.4 Pittsburgh’s Elite Respond to Citizen Protests 55 2.5 Black Power 60 2.6 The Rise of Community Development Corporations 63 2.7 New Tools for Neighborhoods: The Federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act and Community Reinvestment Act 66 2.8 Conclusion 69 3.0 Housing in Lyon Prior to the 1980s 71 3.1 Lyon’s Response to Postwar Slums 73 3.2 The Lyon Region’s Social Housing Developments 77 3.2.1 La Duchère 78 3.2.2 Les Minguettes in Vénissieux 81 !vi 3.2.3 La Grappinière and Mas du Taureau in Vaulx-en-Velin 82 3.3 The Fragile Era of Associations 84 3.4 Social Housing’s Aura Fades 90 3.5 France Wrestles with Deindustrialization & Immigration in the 1970s 92 3.6 First Riots of the Banlieues 97 3.7 Conclusion 99 4.0 The Fight to Save Pittsburgh in the 1980s 101 4.1 Hard Times 103 4.2 Growth of the Community Development Movement 106 4.3 Proliferation of CDCs and Intermediaries in Pittsburgh 109 4.4 Putting Alinsky’s Methods to Work in Pittsburgh: The Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation 111 4.5 Leveraging Post-Industrial Social Capital in Pittsburgh’s Steel Valley 115 4.6 The Community Reinvestment Movement in Pittsburgh 117 4.7 PCRG’s Negotiations with Other Financial Institutions 121 4.8 Conclusion 125 5.0 Lyon’s Banlieue Voices Emerge in the 1980s 127 5.1 Les Minguettes’ “Hot Summer” of 1981 132 5.2 Mitterrand Takes Action 136 5.3 Banlieues 89 137 5.4 La Marche, 1983 141 5.5 Security Deteriorates in Les Minguettes 148 5.6 Rise of the National Front 153 5.7 Emergence of Post-March Associations 155 5.8 Setbacks 157 5.9 Conclusion 160 6.0 Pittsburgh’s New Approaches to Community Development in the 1990s 164 6.1 The Maturation of Community Development Corporations 166 6.2 Trust Builds Between Banks and Communities 171 6.3 New Programs Emerge 176 6.4 The Revival of Main Street 180 !vii 6.5 Pittsburgh’s Campaign to Save the Community Reinvestment Act 183 6.6 Hope VI and the Remaking of Public Housing 188 6.7 Hope VI in Pittsburgh’s Manchester Neighborhood 194 6.8 Conclusion 196 7.0 Lyon in the 1990s: A Decade of Frustration and Hope 199 7.1 Aftermath of the Vaulx-en-Velin Riot 203 7.2 Emergence of Citizen-based Associations in Vaulx-en-Velin 208 7.3 Mitterand Reinforces France’s Commitment to the Banlieues 211 7.4 Physical Restructuring of La Duchère and Les Minguettes 216 7.5 La Duchère Explodes in Violence, 1997 220 7.6 Setbacks: Headscarf Affairs, Rise of the National Front, and Terrorist Bombings in Paris and Lyon 222 7.7 Residents Push Back: Music and Sport as Expressions of Resistance 228 7.8 Conclusion 231 8.0 Too Much of a Good Thing? Pittsburgh’s New Urban Dynamics in the 2000s 237 8.1 Growing Disparities “Beyond the Urban Core” 239 8.2 The Benefits and Challenges of Vacant Properties 241 8.3 Evaluating the Impact of Hope VI in Garfield 244 8.4 End of the Party: The Great Recession Hits Home 253 8.5 Gentrification, Pittsburgh-Style 258 8.6 Conclusion 268 9.0 Refashioning Greater Lyon in the 2000s 271 9.1 The Lingering Image Problem of the Banlieues 274 9.2 The Riots of 2005 and 2007 277 9.3 Attempts to Re-Legitimize the Banlieues: Métropole de Lyon (Grand Lyon) 283 9.4 Lyon’s Transit Experiments 288 9.5 The Physical and Economic Reshaping of the Banlieues 290 9.6 The Inclusion of Citizen Voices 297 9.7 Citizen-Led Initiatives and Lyon’s VRAC Common Purchasing Network 301 9.8 Lyon as Urban Lab 305 9.9 Conclusion 308 !viii 10.0 Conclusion to Building Social Capital: An Assessment of Lyon and Pittsburgh, 1980-2010 312 10.1 Similarities and Differences 315 10.2 Key Observations 319 10.3 Topics for Future Research 326 10.4 Concluding Thoughts 330 Research Resources and Bibliography 333 Interviews 334 Lyon Region Interviews 334 Pittsburgh Interviews 336 Archives and Libraries 338 France 338 United States 338 Periodicals 340 Books, Studies, Journal Articles, and Dissertations 343 !ix List of Tables Table 1. Lyon Immigration Status, 2015. 23 Table 2. Lyon’s Leading Countries of Origin, 2015. 24 Table 3. Racial Composition of the City of Pittsburgh, 2010. 25 Table 4. Change in Population, Lyon and Pittsburgh, 1940s-2000s. 25 Table 5. Lyon and Pittsburgh Change in Population, 1940s-2000s. 26 !x List of Figures Figure 1. View of Lyon from Fourvière, June 2017. xv Figure 2. View of Pittsburgh from Mt. Washington, September 2006. xv Figure 3. “Resist” street graffiti in Lyon, December 2018. Photo by author. xix Figure 4. Djida Tazdaït following European Parliamentary elections, June 18, 1989. 14 Figures 5 & 6. Maps showing the location of Lyon and Pittsburgh as they pertain to other regional cities. 18 Figure 7. Looking toward Vieux Lyon (the “old city”) and the Croix-Rousse hillside community overlooking the Saône River, June 2017. 19 Figure 8. A traboule in Lyon’s Croix-Rousse neighborhood, November 2017. 20 Figure 9. Lyon’s Rhône waterfront, June 2017. 21 Figure 10. View of Pittsburgh from Mt. Washington, 2006. 22 Figure 11. Map of Pittsburgh showing the Garfield, Hill District, and Manchester neighborhoods. 27 Figure 12. Map of the Greater Lyon conurbation showing the communities of study, La Duchère in western Lyon, and the suburban communes of Vaulx-en-Velin, Bron, and Vénissieux. 29 Figure 13 (left) New mixed-income housing in La Grappinière; and figure 14 (right) older social housing towers in Mas du Taureau in Vaulx-en-Velin, June 2017. 30 !xi Figures 15 & 16. Two views of Les Minguettes in Vénissieux, June 2017.