THE CITY AND THE GRASSROOTSA Cross-cultural Theory Of Urban Social Movements

Manuel CastellsProfessor of city and Regional PlanningUniversity of California

The City And The Grassroots is a major study of the people and urbanization, and of the relationship between citizen and cities. The ties between the two are most evident when people mobilize to change their city. Three core themes of modern urban social movements: 1. Collective consumption, 2. Defense of cultural-territorial identity3. Local government as a target for political mobilization.

Part 1 A historical overview, an investigation of how people have combined to influence and change cities. The selection of cases follows a clear sequence of social evolution, beginning with transaction from feudalism to an absolutist state, through to the new urban problems of the post industrial society.

Part 2 Castells then turns to contemporary urban protest movement with an analysis of urban demands in the Grand Ensembles of Paris in the 1960s and 1970s.

Part 3 He questions the relationship between culture and space on the basis of the experience in San Francisco.

Part 4 He then examines the effects of subordination of urban movements to the political systems by summarizing the existing evidence of squatter communities in Latin America.

Part 5 He finally studies the link between consumption, culture, and politics by focusing on the citizens movement of Madrid in 1970s.

Part 6 A Cross-cultural Theory Of Urban Social change.

THE THEORY OF A GOOD CITY AND A GOOD THEORY OF A CITY

CLASS STRUCTURE OF FRANCE

FIRST ESTATE: CLERGY

– 130,000 MEMBERS – PRIVILEGES

• COLLECTED CHURCH TAX (TITHE) • SUPERVISED EDUCATION • REGISTERED BIRTHS, DEATHS, MARRIAGES.

– EXEMPTIONSPAID NO TAXES, ALTHOUGH OWNING 1/5 OF THE LAND IN FRANCE

– COULD NOT BE TRIED IN CIVIL LAW COURTS

SECOND ESTATE: NOBILITY– 110,000 MEMBERS – PRIVILEGES

• COLLECTED TAXES (FEUDAL DUES) • MONOPOLIZED APPOINTMENTS IN STATE AND MILITARY SERVICE

– EXEMPTIONSPAID NO TAXES; ALTHOUGH OWNED 1/5 OF THE LAND

THIRD ESTATE: BOURGEOISIE; PROFESSIONALS; WORKERS; PEASANTS– 24,750,000 MEMBERS – PRIVILEGES: NONE – EXEMPTIONS: NONE (THE BURDEN OF TAXATION FELL UPON THIS CLASS)

• Prefect of the Seine department (1853 – 70)

• During his administration 71 miles of new roads, 400miles of pavement, and 320 miles of sewers wereadded to Paris; 100, 000 trees were planted, andhousing, bridges, and public buildings wereconstructed

• Over 4,000 acres of parks were created.

• He also introduced introduced gas lights for Parisstreets making streets safer and ‘night life’ possible.

• Haussmann spent a total of 2, 115, 000, 000 francs,the equivalent of $1.5 billion in today's currency.

HAUSSMAN

PARIS PRE- HAUSSMANN

PARIS POST- HAUSSMANN

HAUSSMAN’S PLANA NETWORK OF LARGE AVENUESWhen Rambuteau cleared the way for the first time in the city's history for a large avenue in the centre of Paris, Parisians were surprised by its width of 13 meters . But Haussmann made the Rue Rambuteau a moderate-sized street after creating new avenues up to 30 meters wide.

THE NORTH-SOUTH AND EAST-WEST OPENINGSBetween 1854 and 1858, Haussmann took advantage of what was to be the most authoritarian period in Napoleon III's rule transforming the heart of Paris by clearing a gigantic crossing in its centre.

THE RINGS OF BOULEVARDS ARE COMPLETEDHaussmann carried on the work of Louis XIV. He widened the Grands Boulevards and designed and built new axes of great size such as the Boulevard Richard-Lenoir.

THE SQUARES AT THE CROSSROADSThe connection between the great boulevards required the creation of squares on the same scaleThe works of Haussmann converted other great squares at crossing points across the whole city

THE RAILWAY STATIONS

MONUMENTS

MODERN PUBLIC FACILITIESThe renovation of Paris was meant to be total. Cleaning up living areas implied not only a better air circulation but also better provision of water and better evacuation of waste.

GREEN SPACESGreen spaces in Paris were rare.Napoléon III hired engineer Jean-Charles Alphand, Haussmann's future successor, to create expansive parks and green spaces.

OLD PARIS STREETS

OLD PARIS HOUSING

NEW HOUSING• The regulations and constraints imposed by the

authorities favoured a typology that brings theclassical evolution of the Parisian building to its term inthe facade typical of the Haussmann era:

• Ground floor and 'between floors' with thick, usuallystreet-lateral, bearing walls

• Second "noble" floor having one or two balconies;third and fourth floor in the same style but a lesselaborate stonework around the windows

• Fifth floor with a unique continuous undecoratedbalcony

• Eaves angled at 45º

HAUSSMANN THE HEROThe images was taken for Haussmann's City Council PermanentSubcommittee on Historic Works. The purpose of this committee wasto record Old Paris for the city archives, as well as to survey the city andmark areas to be renovated. The street in the photograph is the RueEstienne. It is narrow, damp, and dirty. There are no sidewalks, whichwould have discouraged potential customers from frequenting theshops which line the street on either side. In the background, one cansee more refuse, which has made the street impassible. Haussmanndestroyed streets like this one, in favor of wider, and better ventilatedstreets which would encourage upper bourgeois strolling.

Because of Haussmannization, the 1860's was a time ofintense upheaval in Paris. Many Parisians were troubledby the destruction of old roots.

Haussmann was also criticized for the immense cost ofhis project. Napoleon III fired Haussmann on January 5,1870, in order to increase the approval ratings of theregime.

HAUSSMANN THE DESTROYER

THE DECISION TO DIVIDE PARIS INTO THESE NEW DISTRICTS 1853

• The plan “implied the destruction of the old, heterogeneous quarters in the city center and the creation of large new quarters implicitly dividing the population by economic status”

• The original plan called for twelve districts, but in 1860, Paris annexed surrounding communities and was divided into twenty districts. The districts started inward, on the banks of the Seine, and spiraled outwards.

OUTCOMES OF RENOVATION OF PARIS

• THE WIDENING OF STREETS: A WEAPON FOR AN AUTHORITARIAN REGIME

• THE RUPTURE OF A SOCIAL BALANCE

• FINANCIAL CRISIS

• HOUSING CRISIS

Cities and revolution: the Commune of Paris, 1871• The commune of Paris is generally considered to be the first major political

insurrection in the modern time period. It demonstrated the possibility of mobilization of politically orientated working class.

• Commune, in this perspective could be considered as the point of contact between the urban contradictions prevalent in the society and the emerging labourmovement .

THE Social Profile of COMMUNARDS

Occupational activity Population of Paris (%)

People Insurged (%)

People Deported (%)

Metallurgy 8 12 12

Construction 10 17 18

Labourers 20 14 15

Textile /Garment/Shoe Industry 8 9 9

Artisans and printers 10 10 9

• In almost every case the communard was a salaried person.• Among the insurgents the most important ,and the most

over represented in relationship to the active Parisianpopulation as a whole, was that of the ConstructionWorkers.

• While Petty Bourgeoisie ( clerks, accountants, doctors,teachers, lawyers, and journalist) represents a clearminority among the insurgents, it clearly holds a majorityamong the elected officials of the Commune as well as theNational Guard.

• Women played an important role in the mobilization of thepeople, in combat with the army, in neighborhood meetingsand in street demonstration.

THE Adversary of COMMUNE

Urban landlords and their janitorsThe unpaid rents of the Commune period were brutally punished with tenants denounced as ‘communards’ and exposed to imprisonment or possible execution.

PriestsThe controller of everyday life, the accountants of the old morality.

PoliceTo supersede a centralized state, it was essential to crush its police.

The ugly merchants

A REVOLUTION AT THREE LEVELS

A movement in opposition to the entire rural societyThe mobilization was defined as Parisian, an urban movement. It was a revolt of a local society whose economic and social development required a larger autonomy in relationship to the existing political order. It was revolt to uplift the urban society

A reaction to curb the speculation associated with the housing crisisProvincial immigration into Paris compounded by massive displacement of Parisian due Haussmann’s gigantic restructuring of Paris resulted in a housing crisis within the city. The Landlords took advantage of such a situation by packing people together in tiny apartments and charging very high rents. Such neighbourhoods became the birthplaces of the Commune.

A Municipal RevolutionCommune aimed at radically transforming the political institutions that represented the local society, both in their internal organization and in their relationship to the central state. They advocated the permanent participation of citizens in the municipal government by means of decentralization of power towards ward committees. In this way they could articulate grass root democracy and representative democracy to reorganize the nation.

ITS EFFECTS…..

The Politics And Ideology Of Twentieth Century

The Commune left a very important trace on the world.

It inspired Marxist-Leninist theory of the state and that of federalism-an unlikelycombination.

The City

The defeat of the commune had a lasting effect on the city of Paris. Parisians lost allpolitical autonomy as government tightened its control on the city. It could regain itsautonomy in 1977.

Lack of autonomy in Parisian municipal institutes ensured that they were cluelessagainst the real estate speculation and functional arrangements required to fulfill theneeds of industrial and financial capital. As a result, Paris enjoys the most permanenthousing crisis of all Western capitals.