A clean and civil city: Local associations and the moral bordering of Parisian public space. (July 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Benjamin, Carrie Ann
• Is Part Of: European urban and regional studies. Volume 30:Number 3(2023)
• Page Start: 297
• Page End: 308
• Publication Date: 2023-07
• Subjects: Bordering practices -- incivility -- Paris -- security -- waste; Regional planning -- Europe -- Periodicals; Regional economics -- Periodicals; Cities and towns -- Europe -- Periodicals; 307.76094
• DOI: 10.1177/09697764231168536
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0969-7764

Abstract

For years, city officials in Paris have tried to reduce 'incivility' to maintain public order and security. While civility is being used by the city to enforce a respect for others through a respect for public space, it is also being used to claim moral authority and legitimacy by groups who already enjoy a privileged access to these spaces. Although some of these groups may seek to bring their neighbours into an imagined moral community through 'awareness raising', others attempt a revanchist approach to push the 'uncivil' and 'undeserving' further outside the borders of this community. This article argues that in combatting incivility and bad behaviour, local associations attempt to establish a spatial and moral community that legitimises their vision of appropriate consumption and use of public space and excludes already-marginalised publics from its borders.