Commons, Associations, and Possibilities of Egalitarian Life in Paris, France

Abstract

Abstract In this article I ask, at what level does the egalitarian life of the French Republic manifest itself? In what social spaces do people get to enjoy its slogan, Liberté, égalité, fraternité? I take these questions to be closely entangled with the concepts of public space and civil society, as well as that of the commons. How do Parisians use their urban commons? What kinds of restrictions and barriers exist to exclude people from this space? I describe the Bois de Boulogne public park in Paris and explore why this vast space of common enjoyment is subdivided to such a degree into zones of privilege and membership. I propose that the park exists as a miniature version, a heterotopia, of larger French society.