Normalizing and regularizing slums: what explains the sidelining of onsite interventions in Europe? Comparing Paris and Madrid

Abstract

Raising the question of normalizing, upgrading or regularizing slums[1] in Europe could be seen as provocative at a time when all local and national governments are very often doing everything they can to raze slums – perceived as the shame of this twenty-first century's civilized world and as a reflection of housing policy failures since the 1950s, and when associations that support slum dwellers and ensure their daily survival have been campaigning for years for the implementation of integration projects to promote housing and jobs. (First paragraph)