Urban redevelopment and its resistance: Learning from La Duchère, Lyon
23.11.2019
Human Geographies: Cities, Regions, Economies
Swiss Geoscience Meeting
Swiss Academy of Sciences
Fribourg, Switzerland
“…But what we academics so often forget is (…) the inevitable feelings of loss provoked by the demolitions…” (Harvey 2012: x-xi). It was demolitions and the resettlement of thousands of households that provoked public action among two groups of inhabitants in one of France’s grands ensembles, La Duchère (Lyon). This contribution is based upon empirical research on two similar but very different movements in La Duchère – the Groupe Inter Quartiers (GTI, later Conseil Citoyen) and the Collectif 230, fighting for their share in the redevelopment of their district in reaction to topdown urban restructuring plans. It argues that socio-technical arrangements within urban re-structuring create uneven opportunities for different groups to get heard or involved (Le Galès 2005; Bourdieu 1976; Nonhoff 2007) and create different forms of resistance.