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Banlieue

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Banlieue /bɑ̃ˈljø/ is the French word for "outskirts." A banlieue can be rich or poor; Versailles, Le Vésinet, Orsay and Neuilly-sur-Seine are affluent banlieues of Paris, and Clichy-sous-Bois is a poor one. It comes from the two French words ban (Medieval justice) and lieue (a unit equivalent to four kilometers), and thus describes the zone around a city that is under the city's rule.

Some dictionaries translate banlieue as suburb, but while both the French word banlieue and the English word suburb both refer to residential areas on the outer edge of a city, in everyday usage their meanings can be quite different. In the United States, the word suburb generally connotes areas of low-density, detached or semi-detached housing, inhabited by the middle and upper classes, whereas in France the word banlieue is more frequently used to describe areas of low-income apartments and social housing. Its colloquial equivalent would be "the projects", or "the hood".

Euphemism

Since the 1970s and 1980s, the phrase les banlieues has been increasingly used as a euphemism to describe low-income housing projects in which mainly French of foreign descent or foreign immigrants reside, especially around Paris, but also some other large French cities.

Since the 1980s petty crime has increased in France, much of it blamed on juvenile delinquency. As a result the banlieues are perceived to have become rather unsafe places to live, and youths from the banlieues are perceived to be one important source of increased petty crimes and uncivic behaviour. As a result of this criminality, the National Front, a far right political party led by Jean-Marie Le Pen, rose to prominence during the early 1990s on a platform of tougher law enforcement and immigration control.

Note that this connotation of the word is mostly restricted to European French (shared with Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Monaco). In Quebec and Africa, the word retains its neutral meaning. Recently coined terms used in politics, sociology, and the French media to describe banlieues with high levels of poverty, violence and drug trafficking include zones urbaines sensibles ("sensitive urban areas") and quartiers dits sensibles ("neighbourhoods deemed sensitive").

Violent clashes between hundreds of youths and the French Police in the Paris banlieue of Clichy-sous-Bois began on October 27 2005 and continued for more than seventeen consecutive nights. The 2005 Paris suburb riots were triggered by the electrocution deaths of two teenagers who were, allegedly, attempting to hide from police in an electricity substation.

The Economist magazine has an article, titled "Europe's banlieue," which compares the poverty in the Balkans to that found in Paris's poorer suburbs.[1]

Social situation

Main article: Social situation in the French suburbs

Banlieues rouges

The banlieues rouges ("red outskirts districts") are the outskirt districts of Paris where, traditionally, the French Communist Party held mayorships and other elected positions. Examples of these include Ivry-sur-Seine, and Châtillon. Such communities often named streets after Soviet personalities, such as rue Youri Gagarine.

See also

  • aire urbaine
  • District B13 / Banlieue 13 Action film set in the fictional Banlieue 13 (District 13) of Paris in 2010, where the protagonist is tasked with locating and deactivating a nuclear weapon that presumably has been stolen by a powerful gang thirsty for absolute control over the district.
  • La Haine, a film by Mathieu Kassovitz about the disaffected youth and police brutality in the French banlieues.
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