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The Zone: An Alternative History of Paris
AN OUTSIDER’S GUIDE TO MODERN PARIS
In The Zone, Justinien Tribillon takes the reader on a tour of an eponymous Parisian hinterland. The site of dreams and nightmares, from Van Gogh’s paintings to the cinematic violence of La Haine, the Zone, so often misun- derstood, is the key to understanding today’s Paris, and even France itself.
Originally the site of defensive walls, alongside which mushroomed makeshift housing, allotments, and dancehalls in the nineteenth century, the Zone has performed many functions and been a place of contention for two centuries. Dismantled in the 1920s, the fortifications were first replaced with gardens, stadia and homes. After the war came the Boulevard Périphérique, a ring road promising seamless travel in a futuristic car-centric Paris. With the ring road came new dreams of modernity in reinvented new towns, high-rise architecture and social housing built at record speed. Yesterday’s Paris made way for tomorrow’s banlieue.
But the metropolitan dream was never realised. The Zone became a symbol of between inner and outer cities; between the bourgeois centre and the working-class immigrant outskirts; between ‘us’ and ‘them’. The Zone, both a physical space and a powerful myth, came to crystallise the social, spatial and ethno-racial differences between Paris and the banlieue.
The Zone is a brilliant anatomy of the true heart of Paris. An essential book for urbanists and historians.
In The Zone, Justinien Tribillon takes the reader on a tour of an eponymous Parisian hinterland. The site of dreams and nightmares, from Van Gogh’s paintings to the cinematic violence of La Haine, the Zone, so often misun- derstood, is the key to understanding today’s Paris, and even France itself.
Originally the site of defensive walls, alongside which mushroomed makeshift housing, allotments, and dancehalls in the nineteenth century, the Zone has performed many functions and been a place of contention for two centuries. Dismantled in the 1920s, the fortifications were first replaced with gardens, stadia and homes. After the war came the Boulevard Périphérique, a ring road promising seamless travel in a futuristic car-centric Paris. With the ring road came new dreams of modernity in reinvented new towns, high-rise architecture and social housing built at record speed. Yesterday’s Paris made way for tomorrow’s banlieue.
But the metropolitan dream was never realised. The Zone became a symbol of between inner and outer cities; between the bourgeois centre and the working-class immigrant outskirts; between ‘us’ and ‘them’. The Zone, both a physical space and a powerful myth, came to crystallise the social, spatial and ethno-racial differences between Paris and the banlieue.
The Zone is a brilliant anatomy of the true heart of Paris. An essential book for urbanists and historians.
208 pages, Hardcover
Published July 9, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 14, 2024
Am enjoying the gradual rejection by English-language left-wing books on Paris of the 'nothing to see here' view of the 8/10ths of Greater Paris that isn't "Paris", and this is a good example: a fast-paced short history of the specific area where one rubs against the other, with lots of pics and anecdotes and some hair-raising stories. Slightly overwritten in a very Writer's First Book way, but also with a very welcome nuance, capable of recognising both how eg mass social housing was linked up with some very dubious ideas and also how it made thousands of people's lives better.
July 25, 2024
4.0 ★
Paris: the city of love, the city of light, the city of proper people.
Tribillon takes you on trips around Paris to discuss how the construction of Paris keeps the favored, proper elite in Paris intramuros (people who are, “well-bred, well-dressed, white, probably Christian, male and straight, with savings accounts”) and the social “other” in the banlieues (varies through time, but always more working-class than not, eg Romanis, Jews, Algerians, communists, etc). They’re separated by the Zone, which is currently quite a physical barrier: le boulevard périphérique.
Chapter 1: Creating the Zone to separate the bourgeois from the proletariat (or, how to keep the pesky poor people out)
Chapter 2: Planting trees will address all of the peoples’ concerns (or, introducing more urban green space is easier than implementing a long-term strategy to address the systemic issues in urban planning)
Chapter 3: Reinforcing the Zone to keep the socialists and commies out of Paris intramuros (or, Paris’s “proper” citizens shouldn’t have to deal the realities of social inequality)
Chapter 4: Technocracy working for the elite (or, technocratic management does not a fair design make)
Chapter 5: Imperial boomeranging to keep Paris “proper” (or, how the colonizers improve policing techniques)
Paris: the city of love, the city of light, the city of proper people.
Tribillon takes you on trips around Paris to discuss how the construction of Paris keeps the favored, proper elite in Paris intramuros (people who are, “well-bred, well-dressed, white, probably Christian, male and straight, with savings accounts”) and the social “other” in the banlieues (varies through time, but always more working-class than not, eg Romanis, Jews, Algerians, communists, etc). They’re separated by the Zone, which is currently quite a physical barrier: le boulevard périphérique.
Chapter 1: Creating the Zone to separate the bourgeois from the proletariat (or, how to keep the pesky poor people out)
Chapter 2: Planting trees will address all of the peoples’ concerns (or, introducing more urban green space is easier than implementing a long-term strategy to address the systemic issues in urban planning)
Chapter 3: Reinforcing the Zone to keep the socialists and commies out of Paris intramuros (or, Paris’s “proper” citizens shouldn’t have to deal the realities of social inequality)
Chapter 4: Technocracy working for the elite (or, technocratic management does not a fair design make)
Chapter 5: Imperial boomeranging to keep Paris “proper” (or, how the colonizers improve policing techniques)
January 11, 2026
4.5 ⭐️.
An interesting, well written examination of how architecture and urban planning had been used to oppression and control various groups (ragpickers, Jews, communists, the working class, Algerian and other africans) in Paris and its suburbs. Could have used more maps to better detail the arguments made.
An interesting, well written examination of how architecture and urban planning had been used to oppression and control various groups (ragpickers, Jews, communists, the working class, Algerian and other africans) in Paris and its suburbs. Could have used more maps to better detail the arguments made.
November 8, 2024
Paris is xenophobic, and the ring around ‘Paris proper’ has been retrofitted throughout its history to keep ‘the other’ out. That’s the idea behind the book.
It’s a good idea, but I didn’t like the execution. For one, the book really needed a few good maps to show which areas the author was specifically writing about, because it was hard to follow and unclear if his arguments actually made sense without seeing specifically how things he writes about were implemented spatially. Also, the style of writing felt overly inciting to me and not factual enough. Many arguments were made without proper substantiation, and other arguments were so obvious that they didn’t need an entire book written around them.
I was disappointed. I thought it was an interesting theme to explore in a book, but I felt the author missed the mark and was not sufficiently equipped to write a book about this theme.
It’s a good idea, but I didn’t like the execution. For one, the book really needed a few good maps to show which areas the author was specifically writing about, because it was hard to follow and unclear if his arguments actually made sense without seeing specifically how things he writes about were implemented spatially. Also, the style of writing felt overly inciting to me and not factual enough. Many arguments were made without proper substantiation, and other arguments were so obvious that they didn’t need an entire book written around them.
I was disappointed. I thought it was an interesting theme to explore in a book, but I felt the author missed the mark and was not sufficiently equipped to write a book about this theme.
July 25, 2025
FR 👇This was not an easy read.* In some ways it was obviously a rewrite of the author's dissertation, but it was still a fascinating look at the margins of Paris: physical, political, racial, architectural, etc.
If you cling to the illusion that Paris/France is beautiful & wonderful, you'll want to give this a miss.
*If you're looking for something more accessible that focuses on North African migration, housing, and employment, I'd recommend Les Mohamed by Jérôme Ruillier (not sure if it's been translated to English).
FR - publié/réécrit en français par l'auteur mais je l'ai lu en anglais. Lecture difficile* quand même car on voit bien les origines académiques du texte (basé sur sa dissertation), ceci dit, son regard sur les marges est fascinant et profond, démêlant tous les sous entendus derrière et ses facettes.
Si vous avez envie de voir la vie en rose, ce livre n'est pas pour vous.
*Pour une lecture plus accessible sur l'immigration maghrébin, je vous conseille Les Mohamed par Jérôme Ruillier.
If you cling to the illusion that Paris/France is beautiful & wonderful, you'll want to give this a miss.
*If you're looking for something more accessible that focuses on North African migration, housing, and employment, I'd recommend Les Mohamed by Jérôme Ruillier (not sure if it's been translated to English).
FR - publié/réécrit en français par l'auteur mais je l'ai lu en anglais. Lecture difficile* quand même car on voit bien les origines académiques du texte (basé sur sa dissertation), ceci dit, son regard sur les marges est fascinant et profond, démêlant tous les sous entendus derrière et ses facettes.
Si vous avez envie de voir la vie en rose, ce livre n'est pas pour vous.
*Pour une lecture plus accessible sur l'immigration maghrébin, je vous conseille Les Mohamed par Jérôme Ruillier.
January 19, 2025
A history, among other things, of the border Zone around Paris's periphery and how it has pretty much always been a means of excluding, if not actually identifying, those who "don't belong" in the city proper. I have to admit that this was probably beyond me in terms of philosophy and all, but I still learned quite a bit about the history of Paris, France, and racism in that country.
I do feel that a lot was asserted here that was more like opinion or belief than evidence-based reporting. But like I said...there were plenty of facts to learn, and it definitely gave me a new perspective on the importance of urban planning and social issues.
I do feel that a lot was asserted here that was more like opinion or belief than evidence-based reporting. But like I said...there were plenty of facts to learn, and it definitely gave me a new perspective on the importance of urban planning and social issues.
July 1, 2026
Really enjoyed the first two thirds of the book. Appreciated the discussion of film, photography, art, alongside the legal and historical record in the zones imagination (or lack thereof). The last chapter felt reductive and sloppily done though. He seems to oversimplify the relationship between "the zone" and "the banlieue" in a way that isn't all that profound or unique to me.
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January 30, 2025The platonic ideal of a dissertation-turned-book.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews