Build the imaginary: Urban futures and New Towns in post-war French spatial planning

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Welch

Post-war France was reshaped by a sustained period of spatial planning and modernization. This was particularly so during the presidency of Charles de Gaulle (1958–69), as the country positioned itself as a modern European nation after decolonization. In its approach and execution, French spatial planning represented the sort of imperious state intervention critiqued by radical spatial theorists such as Henri Lefebvre. Yet it remained the case that the planners articulated a rich vision of France’s future, filled with space and light. Not only that, but they had the means to bring their vision into being. During the mid-1960s, the building of New Towns became central to their thinking. This article revisits spatial planning as a realm of the imagination and considers how the nation’s future was portrayed in textual and visual forms. It explores how the translation of dreams into built realities became a source of political tension, and how those tensions found public expression in the visual media.

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (10-3) ◽  
pp. 70-81
Author(s):  
David Ramiro Troitino ◽  
Tanel Kerikmae ◽  
Olga Shumilo

This article highlights the role of Charles de Gaulle in the history of united post-war Europe, his approaches to the internal and foreign French policies, also vetoing the membership of the United Kingdom in the European Community. The authors describe the emergence of De Gaulle as a politician, his uneasy relationship with Roosevelt and Churchill during World War II, also the roots of developing a “nationalistic” approach to regional policy after the end of the war. The article also considers the emergence of the Common Agricultural Policy (hereinafter - CAP), one of Charles de Gaulle’s biggest achievements in foreign policy, and the reasons for the Fouchet Plan defeat.


2011 ◽  
pp. 92-109
Author(s):  
Wanda Jarząbek

France attempted to be consistent in the assertion of her entitlements resulting from her role as one of the four powers responsible for Europe. Franco-German relations in the power-war years were not easy; however, after President Charles de Gaulle and Chancellor Konrad Adenauer signed the Elysee Treaty, aempts were made aimed at a rapprochement at the social contacts’ level; the political dialogue was also being developed.France also attempted to build up its position in the East. The return to tradition was impossible because of regime transformations in Central and East Europe; in the case of relations between Poland and France, however, French politicians referred to the past, comparable historical experience and a number of apprehensions regarding Germany’s intentions. France was, actually, comfortable with the post-war reduction of Germany’s territory; it was thus de Gaulle’s declaration of 29th March, to the effect that Germany’s unification will be possible within the borders of the existing German states which became the mandatory position for the French policy which Paris used to remind not only Polish, but also German politicians. A formula suggested in May 1970 to Poland’s Foreign Minister, Mr Stefan Jędrychowski, by the French Minister, Mr Maurice Schumann, envisaged a joint declaration by the Four Powers and the submiing on their part of an assurance that they would support the invariable character of the border on the Oder–Lusatian Neisse rivers’ line, in accordance with a proviso set down in the Polish-German treaty. The idea of such a declaration was inconvenient to the People’s Republic of Poland, which did not wish the rights of the Powers to be given publicity and neither did it suit the Federal Republic of Germany, which did not wish such a declaration to be issued.


Author(s):  
Ekaterina NAROCHNITSKAYA

The imperative of France's grandeur was one of de Gaulle’s national idea essential elements which is as widely known as it is often misinterpreted. Although such classical vocabulary was disappearing from European political discourse, the founder of Gaullism used the notion of greatness strongly rooted in French political culture as a mobilizing symbolic force for meeting crucial domestic challenges. The motive of greatness was also closely linked with the principles of France’s autonomy and global responsibility, on which de Gaulle pivoted the positioning of the Fifth Republic in the post-war world. All this conflicted with the supranational Euro-Atlantic project, which was the main reason for the sharp negativism against de Gaulle's strategy and rhetoric, accused of "archaic thinking" by his opponents. In fact, the "last great Frenchman’s” concept of "greatness" was quite unorthodox in its reasoning and content, which are of particular interest as part of his relevant ideological legacy. Instead of axiomatic superiority, restoration of former power, civilizing mission, he insisted on the importance of high goal setting, vast undertakings and historical actorness, which were in de Gaulle’s view the existential imperative of French history.


Author(s):  
Kenneth Dyson

This chapter seeks to offer a balanced and nuanced view of conservative liberalism in French and Italian political economy by examining its key figures, the context of their work, what they thought and wrote, and how their thinking evolved. It also compares the significance of conservative liberalism in the discourses, policies, and politics of French and Italian political economy. In the case of France, the chapter examines the ideas and roles of Louis Rougier, Jacques Rueff, Maurice Allais, and Raymond Barre. It also discusses the Lippmann Colloquium in 1938; Rueff’s relations with Raymond Poincaré and Charles de Gaulle, especially in the period 1958–61; and the hard franc (franc fort) policy. The key texts of Rougier and Rueff are examined in detail. In the case of Italy, close attention is paid to the ideas and roles of Luigi Einaudi (including his connections to Wilhelm Röpke), Costantino Bresciani-Turroni, Luigi Sturzo, Guido Carli, and Francesco Forte; to the early post-war reconstruction; to Carli’s concept of the good and bad souls of Italy; and to external discipline (vincolo esterno) as a tool of economic policy. The chapter examines the stabilization traditions of France and Italy; the challenge posed by European economic and monetary union; and the deep hostility that emerged towards Ordo-liberalism in the wake of the euro area crisis after 2009.


2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Welch

During the presidency of Charles de Gaulle (1958–1969), state-led spatial planning transformed the Paris region. The aim of the Schéma directeur d’aménagement et d’urbanisme de la région de Paris (1965) was to improve urban life through modernization; but its scale and ambition meant that it came to represent the hubris of state power. This article examines the role of discourse and narrative in state planning. It explores the role of planning discourses in the production of space, as well as stories told about planning by the planners and those who live with their actions. It investigates perceptions of power in post-war France, placing the Gaullist view of the state as a force for good in the context of contemporary critiques of state power. Addressing the relationship between power, resistance, and critique, it sees the environments produced by spatial planning as complex objects of dispute, enmeshed in conflicting hopes and visions of the future.


Radiopraxis ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (03) ◽  
pp. E74-E92
Author(s):  
Susanne Anton ◽  
Erik Stahlberg ◽  
Jan Peter Goltz

Das Bauchaortenaneurysma (BAA) als eine fokale Erweiterung aller Wandschichten der Aorta abdominalis ist ein komplexes und lebensbedrohliches Krankheitsbild – Albert Einstein und Charles de Gaulle sind an einer Ruptur verblutet. Eine endovaskuläre Aortenreparatur (EVAR) oder offen-chirurgische Therapie haben das Ziel, das Rupturrisiko niedrig zu halten bzw. zu eliminieren und die Lebenserwartung des Patienten zu verbessern.


1986 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-106
Author(s):  
Anton W. DePorte
Keyword(s):  

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1058-1077
Author(s):  
Matthias Goldmann

AbstractThis article argues that the PSPP judgment effectively buries the era of financial liberalism, which has dominated the European economic constitution for decades. It raises the curtain on a new political paradigm, which I call “integrative liberalism”. Whereas the financial crisis put financial liberalism under strain, the development since then has been contradictory, torn between state intervention and market liberalism, focused above all on buying time rather than finding a new constitutional equilibrium. Now, together with the measures adopted in response to COVID-19, the PSPP judgment paves the way for profound change. Integrative liberalism is characterized by an overall shift from the market to the state, mitigating the post-crisis insistence on austerity and conditionality. Contrary to the embedded liberalism of the post-war era, integrative liberalism operates in a corrective and reactive mode with a focus on goals and principles, lacking the emphasis on long-term planning. Like every political paradigm, integrative liberalism ushers in a new understanding of the law. It puts the emphasis on context instead of discipline, and it elevates the proportionality principle. If integrative liberalism is to succeed, however, the democratic legitimacy of the Eurosystem and its independence require serious reconsideration.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-96
Author(s):  
Péter Kovács

On December 11, 2020, the International Court of Justice (ICJ or Court) delivered by majority its judgment on the merits of the litigation between Equatorial Guinea and France concerning the legal status of a building at 42 Avenue Foch, situated in Paris, in the very elegant 16th district, close to the Arc de Triomphe (Place de l'Étoile/Place Charles de Gaulle).


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