Restoring Order to the Streets: Public Policy and the Paris Neighborhood of La Goutte-d’Or

The streets of the Goutte-d’Or district of Paris are the scene of daily disputes between residents and regular users, business owners, and street hawkers. Security policies have recently been enforced in the neighborhood to reclaim public spaces, and sanitation has been presented as a safety issue. This article examines how the overcrowding of streets gradually became a public issue, and how disorder came to be viewed as a sign of lawlessness. In the name of law and order and in response to resident complaints, new security policies were put in place that include sanitation enforcement and a crackdown on street peddling.