Migration, Public Policy and Gentrification in Belleville, Paris

Abstract

This article is a study of the physical and social transformation of the Parisian quartier of Belleville since the 19th century. Immigration history and urban renovation have interacted and contributed to or limited the gentrification of the quartier. Certain features are known to affect the type and extent of gentrification: the nature of migrant communities; the legal status of migrants; ethnic relations between migrant and host communities; poverty; crime rates; social diversity and insalubrious housing stock. These factors will be examined in relation to Belleville with a focus on the four significant stages of urban renovation: the transformation of Paris under Haussmann and its flow-on effects; the post-WWII reconstruction period, marked principally by the Plan d’Aménagement et d’Organisation Générale de Paris (PADOG); the makeover of north-eastern Paris towards the end of the 20th century in the form of the Plan programme de l’est de Paris; and the ongoing results and repercussions of this makeover. The evidence points to the quartier being in a stage of partial gentrification. The potential for this process to extend to a state of mature gentrification will be examined with reference to quartiers such as the Marais.