LAUSR

Abstract After the First World War, Parisian officials debated the city’s border ground: Did the zone define the edge of Paris? The founders of the new Cité Universitaire de Paris joined the discussion. The effort to create the Cité and fit it into its new neighbourhood, emphasises the continued debate about the margins of Paris and who and what they represented to the urban officials and elites invested in them. The Cité fits with other urban renovation projects of the era; the goal of independent advocates and government representatives to create a social transformation – both on a cultural ideological level and on a practical housing level – focused on social hygiene. Entrepreneurs who funded the organisation viewed the future Cité as a utopia for international students to learn from one another and live in modern quarters reflecting a modernised, sanitised, healthy France. The zone became a logical locale for the new enterprise because it represented a border ground: a middle space between the city proper and the perceived ‘fresh air’ of the countryside. The future of the zone opened up a debate about public space, the nature of a modern city, and the role of the state as an agent of social transformation.