In addition to highlighting recent socio-spatial transformations of (sub)urban spaces in Northern France through (de)industrialization, discrimination and poverty, this book provides original conceptual framework and tools for thinking about social change in a wide variety of contexts. Read More
How can we think about the transformations of (post-)industrial areas? Based on a cross-section of social science research carried out in Northern France, this book adopts a local perspective on social change. It first sheds light on the restructuring of industrial, real estate and green economies, then on the (re)production of national and racial boundaries considering labour, housing, and international mobilities, and finally on the government of poverty from the (de)cohabitation trajectories of working-class youth, over the regulation of drug use, to the local experimentation of a universal basic income. It features elected representatives, corporate managers, activists and citizens who are involved in or opposed to the continuous restructuring of capitalist and post-colonial societies, driven in the name of a never-ending transition, whether this shift be to a "service economy" or to a more “sustainable” and “inclusive” urban society.