>    Le Monde diplomatique 
> 
>    -----------------------------------------------------
> 
>    November 2002
> 
>               PRICE TO PAY FOR 'ISLAND OF PRIVILEGE'
> 
>                        Fenced off in France
>      _______________________________________________________
> 
>     In France, and in Britain, too, there is a new segregation
>          of the urban landscape, through the building of
>       American-style gated communities which sells the haves
>    security against the have-nots, creating us-and-them cities.
>      We visited one such gated community in the boom city of
>                              Toulouse
> 
>                                          by HACHNE BELMESSOUS *
>      _______________________________________________________
> 
>      THE Belles Fontaines estate outside Toulouse, in
>      southwest France, belongs to Fonta, a property developer
>      that has 21 other estates in the area. The outside of
>      Belles Fontaines looks impenetrable, with a perimeter
>      fence, remote-controlled gate, security staff and
>      surveillance cameras. Tenants can watch visitors on their
>      screens and identify anyone undesirable. To enter the
>      estate you either need a special badge, or an invitation
>      from an occupant.
> 
>      Belles Fontaines was built in 2000 in a residential area
>      only five minutes from the last stop on the underground
>      line; it has detached houses and three two-storey blocks
>      of flats. Once inside it looks very much like other
>      French estates, with tidy lawns and houses laid out
>      around a central swimming pool. Only a few hundred yards
>      down the road, though, is the Mirail low-income housing
>      estate (1) with its high-rise blocks. But people living
>      at Belles Fontaines avoid any contact with their
>      neighbours; they shop at the Carrefour hypermarket,
>      rather than the Giant store, just as close, simply
>      because the Giant is frequented by people from Mirail. An
>      executive living at Belles Fontaines explains: "It's an
>      us and them situation. The two communities just do not
>      mix."
> 
>      In the last 15 years the social makeup of Toulouse's
>      population has significantly changed. Unlike most of the
>      country, but like Montpelier, the town has enjoyed rapid
>      growth (1.53% annual growth in Toulouse in 1990-97,
>      against 0.37% for the rest of mainland France). In
>      1982-1999 its population increased by 227,350 (2). But
>      growth has been uneven. Jobs for industrial and
>      agricultural workers and self-employed contractors have
>      disappeared at the rate of 7,000 per year, compared with
>      an annual increase in executive jobs of 13,000. This
>      change has created a new urban elite, mostly families
>      with children, or young childless couples.
> 
>      In Toulouse, fear of the Other and a feeling of acute
>      insecurity have resulted in many gated developments and
>      there are now about 20 in the urban area. Their main
>      developer, Monni-Ducroix, operates about 5,500 flats, 90%
>      of which are rented. Business is booming, with 1,750
>      homes sold last year and another 1,400 constructed. The
>      company turned over $195m in 2001 ($150m in 2000). It is
>      doing so well that three leading French banks, BNP
>      Paribas, Cridit Mutuel and Cridit Agricole, have bought
>      shares.
> 
>      Robert Monni, its CEO, is a clever man, who knows that
>      urban violence (3) has boosted the value of his company.
>      Established property developers have offered to set up
>      joint ventures, so far without success. The Monni-Ducroix
>      web site sells the promise of a quiet life to prosperous
>      customers. "People want to live in a well-ordered place
>      with plenty of fresh air, where they won't be scared
>      every time the door bell rings," Monni says. He realises
>      that French society is increasingly open to American
>      influence, but that middle-class people are still
>      reluctant to admit to living in a fortress.
> 
>      Asked how important security is on his estates, he
>      carefully avoids upsetting anyone, saying "Our tenants
>      like living in a friendly atmosphere", and he backs this
>      line with an irrefutable argument: "No one has the
>      resources to protect a whole neighbourhood. To do that
>      you need police in front of every block."
> 
>      The Durands (4) moved into a rented Monni-Decroix flat in
>      July 2000: she is an intern in a Toulouse hospital, he is
>      an engineer. They have two children, aged four months and
>      two years. Mrs Durand says: "We decided to rent this
>      three-bedroom flat because we can leave the children to
>      play outside without watching them. There is no need for
>      a fence or a wall." But their peace of mind has
>      drawbacks. "Friends cannot just turn up without warning.
>      We need to be here to let them into the estate. Parking
>      space is restricted and allocated to each tenant, so they
>      cannot always park their cars." There is no quibbling
>      with the rules. They are the price for a comfortable,
>      tranquil life. "We live in an island of privilege," says
>      Mrs Durand.
> 
>                      Opting out of urban life
> 
>      French society is changing, with a growing rift between
>      underprivileged masses surviving on welfare
>      (supplementary benefit, job creation schemes) and a
>      prosperous, highly qualified minority. The proliferation
>      of gated communities in France (5) is an illustration of
>      this. French towns have traditionally been the scene of
>      social interaction, with different classes and
>      communities co-existing. But segregation is increasingly
>      common. France's gated communities are pursuing an urban
>      ideal, similar to those in the US, in which people choose
>      to live with others as fortunate as themselves.
>      Toulouse's engineers, scientists, barristers, architects
>      and journalists are opting out of urban life to be among
>      equals and leave public spaces to the poor that they
>      fear.
> 
>      Insecurity is really an excuse for segregation. And the
>      main reason why those with advantages prefer to shun the
>      less fortunate is the global economy. It has changed the
>      rules of social interaction, vaunting the merits of
>      global, rather than local, exchange and networked, rather
>      than neighbourhood, relations. Public life brings people
>      from different backgrounds into contact, in the street,
>      in sports clubs, or at school. But gated communities,
>      home to the privileged few, reduce the scope for such
>      interaction.
> 
>      Consider the example of a couple in their forties: they
>      are both in middle management and they used to live in a
>      working-class district of Paris but used the opportunity
>      of a recent promotion to move to Toulouse and buy a house
>      in a gated community. They said: "Even if we still vote
>      for the Communist party and are against the idea of
>      social segregation, we want to live somewhere quiet."
> 
>      The media have played an important part in this trend.
>      Television news often shows cars burning and the police
>      pelted with bottles and stones, and always against the
>      same backdrop, a low-income housing estate, its walls
>      daubed with graffiti. The immigrant youths are always the
>      same, too, and always filmed in a certain kind of action
>      by journalists under police protection. The media knack
>      for turning real events into spectacle, supported by
>      deliberately incomplete information, has curtailed any
>      real political debate about the issue in France.
> 
>      Worse, politicians in national and local government have
>      encouraged the spread of gated communities. After
>      building 22 estates in the Toulouse area Monni-Ducroix is
>      extending its operations to Tours (two estates), Avignon
>      (three), Nantes (three), Montpellier (four), Lyon
>      (three), Marseille (one) and Bordeaux (three), and it has
>      projects in the Paris area. Monni explains: "We did
>      approach some councils, but others came looking for us."
>      Local authorities across the political spectrum are
>      involved, and, in fact, "most of the councils where we
>      have located estates are on the left," Monni says.
> 
>      After 30 years of unsuccessful attempts to solve the
>      problems of the vast housing estates built during the
>      1960s, the French government has opted to encourage
>      segregation. To win middle class support, Lionel Jospin's
>      socialist government agreed to allow the installation of
>      surveillance systems in public places. In 1997-99 201
>      local councils set up closed-circuit cameras to monitor
>      city streets.
> 
>      The government also introduced tax cuts that mostly
>      benefited the upper middle classes. A study by the French
>      Centre for Economic Trends shows that half of the $12bn
>      savings made from cuts in income tax and VAT went the top
>      25% of households. The budget announced this September by
>      the more rightwing government, led by Jean-Pierre
>      Raffarin, promises a big increase in funding for the
>      police and a further cut in income tax, again largely for
>      high earners.
> 
>      So the trend towards gated communities and security
>      services will not go away, especially now that one of the
>      nation's top banks, BNP Paribas, is involved. According
>      to Jacques Guinault, the director of BNP Protection
>      Habitat (6), there is nothing surprising in this move:
>      "The French market for security products and services is
>      expanding, but it is still small and badly organised. Our
>      business is the security of people's possessions. It
>      seems reasonable that we should give consumers the
>      benefit of our knowhow." Bank customers can sign up for
>      an alarm system and remote surveillance service
>      protecting their home round the clock.
> 
>      BNP Protection Habitat started trading in September 1998
>      and it is thriving. In 2001 it turned over $3.3m, with
>      12,500 homes subscribing to its services. BNP Paribas is
>      not the only bank showing an interest in this market,
>      which is underdeveloped in the country. Only 1% of French
>      households have as yet fitted a remote surveillance
>      system.
>        ____________________________________________________
> 
>      * Author of L'Avenir commence en banlieue, L'Harmattan,
>      Paris, 2001
> 
>      (1) The estate took the brunt of the explosion that
>      wrecked the AZF-Total chemical works in Toulouse in
>      September 2001.
>      (2) Toulouse also has a remarkably large number of
>      strategic jobs (10.68% in 1990) in public research,
>      industrial research and information technology. Only the
>      Paris area has a higher proportion of such jobs (14.73%),
>      which demand high qualifications and play an essential
>      part in the economic development of an urban area.
>      (3) See Stephane Beaud and Michel Pialoux "The children
>      of hatred", Le Monde diplomatique, English language
>      edition, July 2001.
>      (4) These are not their real names.
>      (5) See Pascal Vigneux, GOFAR.
>      (6) This joint venture owned by a bank, BNP Paribas, and
>      Axa, an insurance company, specialises in secure housing.
> 
>                                                               
> 
>                                    Translated by Harry Forster
> 
> 
>        ____________________________________________________
> 
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