Resorption of the Bidonvilles of Saint Denis

This paper examines the operations of the 1960s and 1970s to reintegrate the shantytowns (bidonvilles) in Saint-Denis (northern suburb of Paris). These urban planning operations gave rise to a major project to build social housing and made it necessary to rehouse the many immigrant families living in the shantytowns. Studying this phenomenon raises questions about a decisive moment in the redefinition of immigrants’ position in a working-class city historically populated by continuous migrations. This paper addresses the numerous practical difficulties that were encountered. It analyzes the complexity of the communist municipality’s stances and attempts to situate these in a context of profound social and political change while considering the complex interactions between the different institutional actors involved in this urban policy.