Fictions of the City Reviewed in the International Journal of Housing Policy more

110 Book Reviews Gilmour, T. (2009) Network Power: An International Study of Strengthening Housing Association Capacity. Available at Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI): http://www.ahuri.edu.au (accessed 20 December 2010). Rhodes, M.L. & Mullins, D. (2009) Market concepts, coordination mechanisms and new actors in social housing, European Journal of Housing Policy 9(2), pp. 107–119. Tony Gilmour Elton Consulting Sydney, Australia Email: tony@tonygilmour.com C 2011 Tony Gilmour DOI: 10.1080/14616718.2011.548590 Downloaded By: [Open University Library] At: 17:28 4 May 2011 Fictions of the City: Culture and Mass Housing in London and Paris Matthew Taunton, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, ISBN 978 0230579767 In this original and interesting book, the author develops a specific approach to films and literature – such as the social naturalism of Emile Zola, or the dystopian H.G. Wells’ novel When the Sleeper Wakes – to analyse the main periods of urbanism over the last two centuries in two specific cases: London and Paris. The title, Fictions of the City, thus translates perfectly the nature of the book. While Matthew Taunton is a journalist, the book is the product of three years of doctoral research investigating representations of urban life, especially the interrelations between class, culture and mass housing. The author therefore bases his analysis on three interconnected propositions developed in the book. The first is that, whereas the notion of home should be placed at the centre of a new understanding of metropolitan life, film and literature in the past has largely failed to do so. Authors have focused, rather, on public spaces, overstating their importance. Secondly, classes are more tied to place than most theories acknowledge, with this attachment linked to the spatial distribution of housing types. Governments, planners and architects have, however, considered certain types of housing as ‘dangerous’ and others not, promoting new types of urbanism to preserve social stability. Third, the globalised economy has not homogenised city life, with London and Paris maintaining their own unique characteristics (culturally and in daily life, etc.). The book is divided into four chapters. Each one presents us with a stage of urbanism and considers its origins, developments and effects as well as historical issues and political, urbanistic and social debates. Chapter 1 focuses on the policies of Haussmann in Paris drawing upon, among other films and texts, Zola’s novel L’assommoir, as well as three other films. The analysis of the Haussermannisation of the city and its consequences also draws upon the reflections from P´ rec and e Benjamin. Haussmannisation involved both a destruction of the fragmented and Book Reviews 111 socially disorganised neighbourhoods of the poor and an urban transformation to ‘secure the city against civil war’ (p. 14). The poor were thus driven out of sight of the Bourgeoisie, as is examined through Beaudelaire’s poem ‘Les yeux des pauvres’, as analysed by Marshall Berman (p. 12). Streets are devaluated as places of social experience, and social life is confined to the interiors of Haussmann’s buildings, with different types of atmospheres: convivial and optimistic, as depicted in Renoir’s film Le crime de monsieur Lange, or to preserve inhabitants from urban alienation in The tenant by Roman Polanski. Chapter 2 analyses the development of London’s suburbs and its driving logics; such as the networking of commuter transport. A large part of the chapter is focused on H.G. Wells’ novel When the Sleeper Wakes (1899). The author studies Wells’ ideological choices, for example his relations with Ebenezer Howard and the city garden movement (p. 62). This fiction is strongly linked to London’s demographic boom in the 19th century. Wells, known as a science-fiction novelist, uses as protagonist a sleeper, ‘who wakes up in a much changed world’ (p. 64): a London on its way to reaching 33 million inhabitants. Wells’ conception of the city is very negative and fearful of strong urban development and rural desertification. Chapter 3 is focused on the growth of the Parisian banlieues. The French definition of banlieues comprises the new parts of the city outside the municipal perimeter. After the Second World War, French governments, as in other European countries, developed very large estates: in French, the so-called grands ensembles. Christiane Rochefort’s novels, studied in French secondary schools in the 1970s, give us a very critical and ironic representation of these new neighbourhoods, an image very far removed from socialist ideologies or Gaullist technocracy. The chapter finishes with the study of Kassowitz’s film La haine, showing the exclusion and violence of young people living in the banlieues. These people, often with Arabic or African roots, are socially, geographically and politically excluded from French society. In addition, the film hints towards the renewal of the French far-right movement (p. 138). Chapter 4 develops the historical background of post-war Britain, where the housing issue was of particular importance. While in France building high-rise blocks had been a uncontentious political choice, in relation to a very strong demand, in the UK proposals for new flats or single-family dwellings were fiercely debated. Despite public programmes, the housing crisis in the UK continued for decades. The author presents us Ken Loach’s film, Cathy Come Home (1966), to find out more about the delay of adequate housing policy. Through a candid visualisation of Cathy’s everyday life, this documentary drama castigates governments for failing to meet their postwar promises (p. 149). This profoundly political film was also a popular success. The author continues by analysing Gary Oldman’s Nil by Mouth (1997). The film presents family life in a working class neighbourhood affected by a combination of drug addiction, domestic violence and alcoholism. Matthew Taunton links the dysfunctional family depicted in the film to the estate and its monotonous social high-rise buildings. Downloaded By: [Open University Library] At: 17:28 4 May 2011 112 Book Reviews Downloaded By: [Open University Library] At: 17:28 4 May 2011 Finally, the author analyses Wonderland (1999), a Michael Winterbottom film, and considers it as an attempt ‘to explore the anomie and alienation of mass housing, [linked to] wider social problems’ (p. 173). This book takes a specific and very original approach, thanks to the integration of films and novels set within their historical contexts. However, as a geographer, I would like to make some critical remarks. First, the author addresses the link between urban space and its inhabitants (p. 2). He argues that areas maintain geographical differences, despite ongoing globalisation. Although this may be a valid conclusion, it is not a new one. Geographers, especially social geographers, have analysed this phenomenon for over 30–35 years, distinguishing between the notions of ‘space’ and ‘territory’; the second concept considers the feelings of attachment to places. Feelings (and representations) can involve actions. Second, dynamism is the basis of geography and realities change according to the geographical scale. Therefore, there are no automatic mechanisms in relation to social class. Every person wants to differentiate themselves from strange or poorer neighbours. Differences exist at a micro-scale, even if, for a visitor, there is no visible difference within the urban landscape. Third, the Parisian grands ensembles or not homogenous; the geographical opposition between south-west, north and north-east areas is strong, and was reinforced throughout the 1960s and 70s by social housing programmes. Notwithstanding these remarks, this book makes an interesting contribution by combining urban studies with literature and cinema. Franck Chignier-Riboulon Department of Geography and Planning University Blaise Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand, France Email: chignierriboulon@free.fr C 2011 Franck Chignier-Riboulon DOI: 10.1080/14616718.2011.548591