Pour les américains, la banlieue est plutot synonyme de bonheur,
d'espaces verts et de tranquilité, loin de la métropole où tout le monde
travaille. Contrairement à la France où nous voyons plutôt la banlieue
comme un endroit sale, mal fréquenté, et surtout qui est synonyme de
cités... Peut-etre y a-t-il des problèmes de sécurité que la France
n'arrive pas à régler dans ces zones de non droit.

La vision de la zone périphérique des grandes villes est totalement
différente entre France et Etats-unis. En effet aux USA les personnes
les personnes aisées ont plus tendance à s'installer en banlieue ce qui
fait de ces endroits des havres de paix. Au contraire en France ce sont
les personnes avec les plus grandes difficultés financières qui sont
installées dans les banlieues qui deviennent des zones de non-droit.
Ceci entraîne une insécurité dans ces quartiers. Ce que l'on appelle en
France les cailleras (bad boys, gangstas) sont ces jeunes en difficultés
qui, faute de travail et de motivation, préfère instaurer un climat
d'insécurité au sein de leur ville. C'est pourquoi la vie dans ces
banlieues est actuellement difficile, une comparaison intéressante avec
les USA peut être faite avec certains quartiers au centre des grandes
villes.

This was something that struck me as very odd too, since the U.S. mostly
relates the suburbs as a place where one goes to build a family, have a
nice home, and live a less congested (and possibly happier) life than in
the city. The cost of living, it can be said, is generally the same in
the suburbs than in the city. Is this the same in France? Is it wrong to
propose that the inner cities in France have a much higher price of
living than the suburbs, which is why the suburbs are related more to
the ghetto and bad parts of France?

Hello everyone. To Pierre: you mention something about "troubled young
people" that prefer to live in the suburbs of France. I'm curious about
some things: who are these kids? Are they native French? And if so, of
what race? If not, are they immigrants?

The reason why I ask this is because in the United States, race and
ethnicity have a big impact on who lives where. For example, I come from
New York City, and this city has historically been associated with
immigrants and African Americans. It would be safe to generalize this
for most of the United States: many cities are populated by immigrants
and minorities, and most suburbs are populated by middle-class and upper
class majority citizens. This difference has to do with historical
trends: for example, immigrants always moved to cities when they first
came to the United States; there was a big wave of African Americans
that moved to cities after World War II; and at the same time, suburbs,
or "Levittowns" were developing.

someone at IUP associated the suburbs with HLM. I am wondering if there
are only or mostly public housing projects in the suburbs in France.
Here, housing projects (and as others have indicated things associated
with the french suburb) are more commonly associated with the inner city.

It is interesting that Pierre mentions the gangsters live in the
suburbs, whereas in the U.S., the gangs are mostly found in the 'inner
city.' Perhaps this is a reflection of an individualist versus a
communal society? In America, people seek space and privacy. Therefore,
living out in the suburbs, or having or own space and privacy, is a
privilage. In France, on the other hand, living in the suburbs is akin
to banishment from society. Is it correct to descibe those living in the
French suburbs as 'outcasts'?

Many of us who grew up in the suburbs think that they are "sheltered"
and "boring." I'm curious as to what the French think of the cities in
which they grew up.

I always thought of the suburbs as a quiet place, lots of trees and
flowers, even lakes maybe? It was a place that my parents took us to, as
we were growing up, some weekends just to get out of the city. But the
word "suburb" to the french is completely the opposite. the "banlieue"
was a word that was associated to violence, drugs, etc. Some reasons
that came to mind was that perhaps it wasnt expensive to live there, and
maybe there aren't jobs etc. I was wondering if there was any reasons
for this, and also i wanted to know if there were places in France that
are seen as the american definition of suburbs (ie, quiet, pleasant etc)

I also found this pretty interesting. I have only had minimal experience
with French suburbs, but from what I could tell, there was definitely a
higher proportion of crime, and there were a large number of immigrants
in the communities surrounding Paris. I think what happens a lot is that
the taxes are really the only support base for community schools and the
like. Since smaller communities will have less taxes, I think that ends
up being a larger problem in France than it would in the US where there
are larger bodies like states to control where taxes are sent. Of course
I'd like to hear about it from the French side as well.

An interesting fact: there was recently a study which concluded that
Americans who live in the suburbs are likely to die earlier. This is
probably because they spend 2-3 hours a day in their car, work 55 hours
a week so that they can have that new big-screen tv, and lust after the
next-biggest size of SUV that they can't afford. Has anyone ever seen
American Beauty? It is the perfect picture of the deadness of the
American suburbian landscape. The development of dead holes in the
middle of American cities (aside from a few like Boston and NYC) as far
as I can tell is the direct result of the development of the car in the
early days of our cities, plus the effect of having tons of space. I was
born in Houston, where there is no zoning, and it just extends as far as
the eye can see - about 90 miles in diameter - because no one feels the
need to rebuild an old building, they just abandon it and build a new one.

The interesting result of this relates to the discussion on the word
individualism, as American families tend to be very isolated, and are
not part of the larger community in which they live (apart perhaps from
a small neighborhood). There is no sense of being a "Houstonian" but
rather you are just someone who lives there. Another connection to the
lack of American social policy?

Personnellement, je pense que la situation dans les banlieues s'améliore
progressivement. Même si les problèmes d'agression, de drogue,
d'insécurité existent, les médias ont tendance à se focaliser sur ces
problèmes là ce qui provoque la mauvaise image que les gens ont de la
banlieue. Sans occulter les problèmes qu'il y a, il faut aussi mettre en
avant ceux qui font des études, ceux qui réussissent à s'en sortir
(sport, musique, études, etc.). Je pense que la seule solution pour
régler les problèmes dans les banlieues est la démolition des barres et
des tours dégradées et de reconstruire des petits immeubles à taille
humaine.

I was wondering if there was a french equivalent to our American
suburbs. Besides the cities, where do the upper-middle class of French
society live?? Are there white picket fences and soccer moms and old
golden retrievers with perfect coats hiding somewhere in France?

I had the same question as Chaling. Do all the upper middle class
individuals in France live in cities? Are all the 'suburbs' bad places
to live?