El urbanismo de renovac ión de grandes conjuntos de vivienda social en Francia, 2004-2008

Abstract

The "grands ensembles" (large social housing estates) constructed in France in the middle of the 1950s and 1970s have been the special focus of the National Urban Renovation Programme (PNRU) planned initially by the French government for 2004-2008. The finalization of this period allows an analysis of its results to be made. In particular, as this article proposes, an analysis of the distinguishing characteristics of the planning of those urban renovation operations around two axes. These are the justificatory arguments and the operative aspects, mainly of a planning character, and from two comparisons: (i) with functionalist planning characteristics of those large estates; and, (ii) with the planning of previous massive urban renovation. The analysis is based on institutional texts and the comparative study of eight urban renovation projects in the "grands ensembles" of the Ile-de-France region. It concludes with a review of the specificity of the planning of the PNRU financed operations (hybrid morphology, residential) and the identification of various affiliations and breaks with functionalist planning (zoning, interpretation of the renovation and plot restructuring, among others).