A sensitive urban zone (french: Zone urbaine sensible, ZUS) is an urban area in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

defined by the authorities to be a high-priority target for city policy, taking into consideration local circumstances related to the problems of its residents. On the 26th of December 1996, 750 ZUS were founded by the décret n°96-1156. The 751th ZUS «Nouveau Mons» in Mons-en-Baroeul was founded on the 24th of August 2000 by the décret n°2000- 796. On the 31st of July 2001, the décret n°2001-707 has changed the périmeter of Grigny's ZUS. There are 751 ''sensitive urban zones'' in France, including 718 in mainland France. The government has published the list of zones and maps of each one.

Social problems within the zones

Nearly five million people live in zones of difficulty with many problems: * A high percentage of

public housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, de ...

, with little home ownership. * High

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the refe ...

. * A low percentage of

high-school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

graduates.

Government policy

A law passed November 14, 1996 created sensitive urban zones (ZUS) and urban tax-free zones (ZFU). 752 of these zones were created in France, including 718 in mainland France. The law of November 14, 1996 (which implements a renewed urban policy) distinguishes three levels of intervention: * Sensitive urban zones (', ZUS) *

Urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

zones (', ZRU) * Urban tax-free zones (', ZFU) The three levels of intervention (ZUS, ZRU and ZFU), characterized by fiscal and social measures of increasing importance, target the difficulties encountered in these districts with differing degrees of response. Contrary to generally accepted ideas, these sensitive districts are in the center of cities and not just the outskirts. The situation in these areas in difficulty was (until recently) difficult to evaluate precisely, based on many

statistics Statistics (from German: '' Statistik'', "description of a state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a scientific, indust ...

which were inadequate in certain areas, scattered or badly collected. To remedy these problems and more accurately measure the effect of

policy Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an orga ...

implementation, the National Observatory of Sensitive Urban Zones (ZUS) was created in a law passed on August 1, 2003. These ZUS are distributed throughout 490 communes and include 4.7 million inhabitants. Among them a subset of 416 zones of urban renewal (ZRU) was created, including 396 in mainland France. The ZRU contain 3.2 million inhabitants, and present unique challenges. Almost all departments are affected; the only exceptions are nine strongly agricultural departments.

"No-go-zones"

In 2010, Raphaël Stainville of French newspaper ''

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of r ...

'' called certain neighborhoods of the southern city

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...

"veritable lawless zones", saying they had become too dangerous to travel in at night. He added that the same was true in parts of

Béziers Béziers (; oc, Besièrs) is a subprefecture of the Hérault department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Every August Béziers hosts the famous ''Feria de Béziers'', which is centred on bullfighting. A million visitors are attra ...

and

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of ...

. In 2012, , the mayor of the French city

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...

, in the wake of several riots, called the northern part of his city a lawless zone, where one could no longer order a pizza or call for a doctor. The head of a local association said institutional violence had contributed to the tensions resulting in the no-go zone. In 2014,

Fabrice Balanche Fabrice Balanche (born November 3, 1969 in Belfort, France) is a geographer and specialist in the political geography of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and the Middle East in general. Biography In 2000, he defended his thesis The Alaouites, space and po ...

, a scholar of the Middle East, labelled the northern city of Roubaix, as well as parts of

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

, "mini-Islamic states", saying that the authority of the state is completely absent there. In 2005 France's domestic intelligence network, the Renseignements Generaux, identified 150 "no-go zones" around the country where police would not enter without reinforcements.

Christopher Dickey Christopher Swift Dickey (August 31, 1951 – July 16, 2020) was an American journalist, author, and news editor. He was the Paris-based world news editor for ''The Daily Beast''. He authored seven books, including ''Our Man in Charleston: Brita ...

, writing in ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'', said the situation had arisen due to racism towards immigrants.

January 2015 controversy

In January 2015, after the ''Charlie Hebdo'' shooting, several items on

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is o ...

labeled the ZUS as "Islamic no-go zones". French media agencies denied these claims. After complaints Fox News issued an apology, saying that there was "no credible information to support the assertion there are specific areas in these countries that exclude individuals based solely on their religion."

References

External links

List of the 751 Zones Urbaines Sensibles
Contemporary French history Politics of France Society of France Riots and civil disorder in France

Civil unrest Civil disorder, also known as civil disturbance, civil unrest, or social unrest is a situation arising from a mass act of civil disobedience (such as a demonstration, riot, strike, or unlawful assembly) in which law enforcement has difficulty ...