Claremont Colleges Scholarship @ Claremont Scripps Senior Theses Scripps Student Scholarship 2013 The Grand Paris Express: An Analysis of Social and Political Trends towards Mass Transit Planning in the Île-de-France Region Charlotte M. Leasia Scripps College Recommended Citation Leasia, Charlotte M., "The Grand Paris Express: An Analysis of Social and Political Trends towards Mass Transit Planning in the Île-de- France Region" (2013). Scripps Senior Theses. Paper 213. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/213 This Open Access Senior Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Scripps Student Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in Scripps Senior Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Grand Paris Express: An Analysis of Social and Political Trends towards Mass Transit Planning in the Île-de-France Region By Charlotte Leasia Submitted to Scripps College in Partial Fulfillment of the Degree of Bachelor of Arts Readers Professor Fazia Aitel Professor Anna Joo Kim Professor Thomas P. Kim April 26, 2013 i Table of Contents Social and Urban Inquiries from a Curious and Inspired Visitor................................1 Chapter One: The Grand Paris Express: Reasons, Causes, and Expectations ..........4 The Literature on French Urban Planning and Sociology...........................................12 French IntéGration: Le Pari Difficile .............................................................................................16 A Social Control of the City? ............................................................................................................17 Constructing Spatial Inequality.....................................................................................................19 Who now constructs the Île-de-France? .....................................................................................22 MethodoloGy and Limitations ........................................................................................................25 Chapter Two: Through the Eyes of Paris’s Architects ..................................................28 Crowding in: Expanding Outwards to Let People In...............................................................32 Theories for CreatinG Space: The Sociology of Space and Identity in the ReGion.........38 Keys to the City: To Contract or Create .......................................................................................40 Chapter Three: Vying Voices for Change ..........................................................................45 Le Mal Nommé: Cité, Banlieue, Zone Urbaine, et Les Grands Ensembles ............................48 RecoGnition and Denial: Two Addresses from the State .......................................................50 The Banlieue Debate at LarGe.........................................................................................................52 Chapter Four: Engaging in the Dialogue ...........................................................................56 Insiders and Outsiders: Where they Collide..............................................................................59 CampaiGning and Mobilization: Using Metro Space as a Political Sphere.......................61 Providing Spaces to Live: The Necessities of a Home.............................................................65 The Here and Now: Movement Towards Better Development? .........................................69 Systems of Change and Movement Forward .............................................................................73 Chapter Five: What to Expect from the Grand Paris Express.....................................75 How People Effectively Alter a Space...........................................................................................76 DrawinG Connections: Grassroots versus State Led ...............................................................81 Size and Scope .....................................................................................................................................85 A New French Model for Solidarity...............................................................................................87 Seducing Outsiders in: The Process of InteGration for Paris’s Grands Ensembles........89 Concluding Thoughts: Questions and Hopes for The Grand Paris Express...........92 Bibliography...............................................................................................................................97 APPENDIX A............................................................................................................................. 105 APPENDIX B............................................................................................................................. 113 APPENDIX C ............................................................................................................................. 116 APPENDIX D............................................................................................................................. 118 ii Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to Scripps College and its professors for inspiring me to think critically and analytically in all of my courses. My time abroad attending the American University Center in Provence challenged me inside and outside the classroom and was of indispensible value to my growth as a learner. My love and thanks to friends and family who supported, listened, and boosted my spirits throughout the entire process. To Professor Klinkenborg for helping me remember the joys of writing. Finally, my biggest thanks to my readers and advisors Professor Fazia Aitel, Professor Anna Joo Kim and Professor Thomas Kim. Their commitment and tremendous help through each step of my thesis gave me the courage to explore my topic through a variety of lenses as well as the motivation to continue. 1 Social and Urban Inquiries from a Curious and Inspired Visitor I have always been drawn to my environments. I enjoy learning about their histories and how I place myself within them. Cities have a particular allure to me, largely because they are so multifaceted, each containing distinctive features. I’ve noticed in my years of moving and academic transitioning that individuals are highly influenced by environments. I felt this awareness acutely when I studied abroad in France for the spring of my junior year in Aix-en-Provence. It was there abroad, with the multiple barriers I encountered – language, cultural, academic and individual, that I became most aware of my movements through space. It was the first time I was living in a foreign country for an extended period of time. I had to make changes to my daily habits due to the newness and unfamiliarity of Aix. One adjustment that I grew to love was my daily walk or commute by bus into the center of the city. I enjoyed the tranquil lull of the ride in the morning, listening to my ipod, but mostly, I enjoyed people watching. It was a perceptibly informative experience. It was almost as if in that moving space alone, I was discovering an obscure lesson about the cultural environment of French cities. In other French cities, using buses, the TGV train, and the Parisian metro brought to my attention both the attractiveness and accessibility of public transit. In my discussions with French students, cars for them were preferable, but as a foreigner, I developed an appreciation for the common good of public transportation. Mass utilization of public transit was opened up to me when I was abroad. Furthermore, I happened to be overseas during a rare match in politics for France and the United States. Only once every 201 years do their presidential election seasons align because of differing term lengths. Seeing news covering France’s presidential campaign as well the U.S.’s made clear our political differences. As an American, I was challenged 1 See Olivier Duhamel’s piece for an analysis on France’s political term lengths. 2 during the campaigning to explain exactly what it was that I noticed. Their domestic concerns, the economy, as well as social and civic issues were comparable, yet subtly and distinguishably different. One facet that did starkly stand out was France’s keen focus on social welfare projects to revitalize the state of its economy. Reading the current news, I came across respective political parties’ plans and goals, covering everything from boosting engineering and technology industries, to revitalizing their state infrastructure. All planning seemed to be based upon a social welfare oriented state that was striving to be capitalistically competitive. One specific plan I came across was the Grand Paris Express. It was this project that struck me as the most lucidly French. French because it aspires to solve their state’s economy through an infrastructural project that faces a new model, but with noticeably and somewhat poignantly French designed features. From my perspective, it was these dual concepts, mass transit planning and the political and social environment that I found myself in, which ignited a fascination to more closely observe the underlying foundations of French cities and how they have grown over the years. From my location in and connection to them, I saw myself as an observer and temporary participant, able to communicate and pass through, but also unable to fully comprehend their histories. After my return back