L'habitant et le bourgeois : la consultation des populations défavorisées des quartiers berlinois d'aujourd'hui au prisme de l'histoire moderne
Résumé
The aim of this paper is to show how a group of inhabitants mobilizes a specific knowledge of the local in interaction with other political or professional actors which intervene on local level. It is based on the first results of an ethnographic survey lead in a large housing estate area of Eastern Berlin called “Marzahn Nord West”.
This area is concerned by the federal program “Soziale Stadt” (“Social City”) aimed at the social and economic development of neglected districts in German cities. As part of this program Berlin Senate selected 15 districts in 1999 in which district managers should network local stakeholders and initiate or encourage development projects. In 2000 the district managers of “Marzahn Nord West” created a Council of inhabitants in order to associate inhabitants to the projects leaded and founded. The article will show how the discourse on “local knowledge” used by the members of the Council of inhabitants corresponds more generally to a mode of action constituted by the opposition between scientists and profane. Secondly, it argues that the members of the Council of inhabitants used the discourse on “local knowledge” as a political mode of action against political and professional actors promoting buildings' demolitions in a part of their neighbourhood. Using the concept of “action repertoire” built by Charles Tilly, it analyses this uncommon use of the repertoire of “expertise” as the result of the interaction between the Council of inhabitants and new political actors which lead the Council to change its strategy to promote its social and political role at a local level. To conclude, it opens up on historical cases of inhabitants consultancies in modern Europe and discusses the status of inhabitants' expertise.
This area is concerned by the federal program “Soziale Stadt” (“Social City”) aimed at the social and economic development of neglected districts in German cities. As part of this program Berlin Senate selected 15 districts in 1999 in which district managers should network local stakeholders and initiate or encourage development projects. In 2000 the district managers of “Marzahn Nord West” created a Council of inhabitants in order to associate inhabitants to the projects leaded and founded. The article will show how the discourse on “local knowledge” used by the members of the Council of inhabitants corresponds more generally to a mode of action constituted by the opposition between scientists and profane. Secondly, it argues that the members of the Council of inhabitants used the discourse on “local knowledge” as a political mode of action against political and professional actors promoting buildings' demolitions in a part of their neighbourhood. Using the concept of “action repertoire” built by Charles Tilly, it analyses this uncommon use of the repertoire of “expertise” as the result of the interaction between the Council of inhabitants and new political actors which lead the Council to change its strategy to promote its social and political role at a local level. To conclude, it opens up on historical cases of inhabitants consultancies in modern Europe and discusses the status of inhabitants' expertise.
L'association des populations locales à la gestion communale ne constitue pas un phénomène nouveau. En témoignent par exemple les Assemblées de l'hôtel de ville de Paris qui du 16e au 18e siècles ont intégré des représentants des quartiers de Paris au gouvernement municipal. Ainsi, même pendant la période de l'absolutisme, des sujets du roi ont été consultés sur des problèmes concernant la fiscalité ou l'ordre public de leur commune. Le regard historique tend donc à relativiser la nouveauté dont se revendique le discours actuel sur la participation.
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