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‘Weak Heritage’ and Neighbourhood in Contemporary Cities: Capitalism and Memories of Urban Utopias

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Market Versus Society

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Urban Anthropology ((PSUA))

Abstract

Since the deep mutation of capitalism that emerged in the 1970s, previous social capitalism became a nostalgic memory. At the same time the concept of heritage expanded in the economic sphere not only as goods to manage but as having immaterial value as well. Nowadays, heritage is claimed in the triviality of everyday life and in the name of the memory of former social local linkages that people can mobilise. In that sense, neighbourhood can be understood as a weak form of heritage when considered as places to preserve from the market. The residents of part of Villeneuve d’Ascq, a so-called new town in North of France built during the 1970s as a utopian comnunity, are the subject of this study on the use of heritage as a way to preserve the memories of their neighbourhood and the founding ideals of the town to preserve their welfare.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://whc.unesco.org/en/tourism/.

  2. 2.

    “Etablissement Public d’Aménagement de Lille Est”.

  3. 3.

    Under the responsibility of the “Ingenieurs des Ponts et Chaussée”, a typical French corporation of “hauts fonctionnaires” (high civil servants).

  4. 4.

    ‘Changer la vie’ (Change the life!) was the slogan of the socialist party between 1977 and 1981, as they access to the power when François Mitterand became président de la république. It has been also the hymn of the party, with a music by MikisTheodorakis’.… Il nous faudra reprendre nos villes/qui ne sont plus que des ghettos géants/où le printemps n’a plus le droit d’asile/où meurent les vieux, les arbres, les enfants/c’est dans nos propres murs qu’on nous exile/changeons la vie ici et maintenant…’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDEgNp62jGk.

  5. 5.

    It is to be said that the new web site is very different: the new town seems not to reject anymore its history.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Univ-Lyon, UJM-Saint-Etienne, CNRS‚ Centre Max Weber UMR 5283, Saint-Étienne, France

    Michel Rautenberg

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  1. Michel Rautenberg
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social and Educational Policy, University of the Peloponnese, Corinth, Greece

    Manos Spyridakis

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Rautenberg, M. (2018). ‘Weak Heritage’ and Neighbourhood in Contemporary Cities: Capitalism and Memories of Urban Utopias. In: Spyridakis, M. (eds) Market Versus Society. Palgrave Studies in Urban Anthropology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74189-5_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74189-5_16

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-74189-5

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