Thesis supervisor(s)
: Antoine Picon, Nathalie
Roseau
Since the early 2010s, the term "daily life" has replaced "suburbs" in certain political discourse to refer to local train stations in the Île-de-France region. Unlike "sensitive neighborhoods" or "agglomerations," the expression "everyday stations" appears to be more of a new buzzword than an established political or administrative category. Nevertheless, it has appeared in public debate at a particular moment, in the wake of the Grand Paris Express project, as if precipitated by a number of actors with seemingly convergent strategies and ideals, and has been accompanied by a wave of unprecedented construction work in the stations of these networks. Furthermore, "daily life" does not conjure up the same images or values as "suburbs." In this respect, this substitution cannot be coincidental. Based on an analysis of the representations conveyed by different forms of narratives by actors on the one hand, and an exploration of the stations and the projects they are the subject of in the Seine Aval area on the other, this thesis aims to reveal the ruptures that allow the emergence of "everyday" stations as a new category of Greater Paris, the meanings that run through it, and the transformations it entails. Its ambition is thus to discuss more broadly the imaginary functions of categorization in the construction of urban spaces. In doing so, this work offers a reinterpretation of the contemporary history of urban planning in the Paris region through the lens of "everyday life," revealing certain shifts in the relationship between transport and urban planning actors and the "suburbs" and their inhabitants, as well as in professional segmentations and the balance of power at play.
Defense on Monday, March 12, 2018 Thesis in Spatial Planning, Urban Planning
Keywords
: stations, metropolises, imagination, innovation
Doctoral school
: VTT – City, Transportation, and Territories
Composition of the jury:
Xavier Desjardins, University Professor, Paris-Sorbonne University
Jacques Peynot, Director of Île-de-France Stations, SNCF (guest)
Antoine Picon, Director of Research, École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (director)
Paola Pucci, Professor, Politecnico di Milano (rapporteur)
Olivier Ratouis, University Professor, University of Paris-Nanterre (rapporteur)
Nathalie Roseau, Associate Professor, École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (co-supervisor)