Histories et quartiers / Neighbohroods and narratives

In recent years, the history of neighborhoods has seen a resurgence of interest, with regard to questions about the qualitative objectives of institutional urban planning practices, and the return to human scale and proximity1. In the era of flow and trade globalization, inscribing architectural and urban spatial recomposition in time is expected to give meaning and encourage the anchoring and appropriation of space. Renewing the mobilization of history concerns not only habitat and housing, but also transportation facilities, employment, and neighborhood relations. It is a narrative of everyday life, being woven and questioning public intervention. Thus, the canonical narrative of the Man and the Monument, providing a hagiography of a work, an architect, an urban planner or a landscape designer, loses its relevance with regard to contemporary issues. The revolution of the Annals3 continues in the field of architecture, urbanism and landscape. In this context, the neighborhood as an object, as a place where construction practices and different levels of spatial representation intersect, proves particularly relevant. As many sociologists and political scientists have shown, it is without a doubt particularly ideological. Nevertheless, it brings the history of architecture and cities into dialogue with public intervention, allowing us to understand the intentions and dynamics of contestation, such as the confrontation of narratives. Indeed, the narrative devices developed by actors do not obey the same structures, nor the same objectives and intentions. The performative will that characterizes the voluntary intervention of public authorities5 is not of the same order as that of inhabitants and users concerned with guaranteeing their implantation. The narrative space of architecture, urbanism and landscape adheres to dynamics of struggle and competition, which practitioners cannot ignore as they insert their “project” into the future. Thus, the sequence of events transcribed by different narrative frameworks make sense within the context of spatial and social issues. The narrative of “origins”, “causes” and “consequences” that makes an architectural, urban and landscape project appear “obvious” must be revealed to enlightened and informed practitioners, as well as researchers who are sensitive to past uses, even if they are not historians. This is the focus of this issue on “Neighborhoods and Narratives” which, on the one hand, develops methodological and epistemological components as well as research strategies, and on the other, explores the production and use of narratives with actors in specific urban contexts.