The spatial dynamics of gentrification in Paris: a synthesis map

Abstract

This article presents a synthetic map of the spatial dynamics of gentrification in Paris since the 1960s. While the notion of gentrification has given rise to numerous studies since the 1970s, in particular in Britain and North America, very few researchers have focused on the spatial dynamics of this process in a given city, or made attempts to map the phenomenon. The synthesis map proposed here is derived from a global, multiscalar approach to gentrification in Paris, and uses three different sources: statistical analyses of the census data for 1982, 1990 and 1999, the work by Daniel Noin and Yvan Chauviré presented in their Atlas des Parisiens (1984), and between 2004 and 2007, surveys in the field in three Paris neighbourhoods at different stages in the gentrification process. These different sources enable an interpretation of gentrification as a process of spatial diffusion from centre to periphery starting from a historical core in the beaux quartiers of the west of Paris. This confirms the analyses reported by the Anglo-American studies, in which gentrification appears as a process of social conquest taking the form of a pioneer frontier. The aim of this article is to present an original cartography of this process using the example of Paris.Keywords: gentrification, social filtering up, social divisions of space, spatial dynamics, pioneer frontier, cartography, working-class neighborhood/neighbourhood