How Gang Violence in France Makes the City

Understanding the links between space and street violence, and in particular inter-neighborhood rivalries, has mainly been based on the study of socialization to these conflicts or to public policies. Research has focused on the weight of segregation and localism, the place of youth gangs and their attachment to the defense of a collective honor, the role of human and technological surveillance in deterring mobility, and the impoverishment and social immobility of residents in the most vulnerable neighborhoods. Based on nearly 20 years of research into gang phenomena in France, we propose to show the extent to which these rivalries between neighborhoods also contribute to redefining the “urban imaginary”, the “mental map” and therefore the way the city functions for the young people most exposed to this violence. This has many invisible consequences, but with very tangible effects on social opportunities, spatiality, the functioning of institutions, educational choices and career paths.