" Mixity " in Urban Policies directed towards Informal Settlement Areas in Damascus, a Concept for Public Decision?

Valérie Clerc (1, 2, 3)

1 IRD [France-Sud] - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement
2 CESSMA - Centre d'Etudes en Sciences Sociales sur les Mondes Africains, Américains et Asiatiques
3 IFPO - Institut Français du Proche-Orient

Since the Syrian President Bachar al-Assad took office in 2000, liberalization induced together an important high-income property development and a large expansion of informal settlements areas in Damascus. At the same time, informal settlements have increasingly featured in the political agenda. Two main approaches can be simultaneously identified: a citywide rehabilitation and regularization of informal settlements and a citywide redevelopment of these areas. What is the role of urban mixity in the public decisions concerning informal settlements? Both approaches encourage mixity, but in different ways, considering either the social and functional qualities of informal settlements to encourage or the partition of the city in segregated areas to avoid. However, mixity is not the main argument for public decision. Competition for land, dominant urban representations or, more recently, urgent social reorientation in a burning regional context play a much more dynamic roles to guide public decisions.

Mots clés: Informal settlements; urban policies; urban rehabilitation; urban renewal; Damascus; Syria

Domaines: Architecture, aménagement de l'espace

Valérie Clerc. " Mixity " in Urban Policies directed towards Informal Settlement Areas in Damascus, a Concept for Public Decision?. 23rd ENHR Conference (European Network on Housing Research), European Network on Housing Research (ENHR), Jul 2011, Toulouse, France. http://www.enhr2011.com/node/28526. ⟨halshs-01185731⟩