Magda
Maaoui, PhD
Urban Planning - Spatial Analysis - Design
Twenty-five years ago, in December 2000, the SRU Law (Loi Solidarité et Renouvellement Urbain) was passed in France, requiring selected municipalities to devote 25% of their local stock to social housing, in order to curb growing trends of segregation.
In this project, I ask what impact this law has had on the rebalancing of social housing stocks for municipalities across the country, particularly those not complying with set quotas. Building on previous research, this paper is part exclusionary politics analysis, part supply analysis, and part neighborhood outcomes analysis--particularly when it comes to health outcomes.
I use GIS and regression models to underscore how much of the mission set twenty-five years ago, of "moving people to opportunity", and unlocking resources to offer them a better quality of life, has been achieved. I hypothesize that the reality is that we are faced with a patchwork of outcomes depending strongly on local land use regimes and political willingness to comply with a state-mandated law.
I also hypothesize that while a lot of rebalancing still needs to happen, particularly in the most exclusionary municipalities, the mission of rebalancing social housing stocks, and hence unlocking access to better amenities and resources, has indeed overall been met.
INTRODUCTION
A zoom on four case studies
From Paris to Brittany, the French riviera to the oversea territoeis
LIVED EXPERIENCES
A zoom on four case studies
From Paris to Brittany, the French riviera to the oversea territoeis
THE NUMBERS
A zoom on four case studies
From Paris to Brittany, the French riviera to the oversea territoeis
THE LIVE EXPERIENCE
A zoom on four case studies
From Paris to Brittany, the French riviera to the oversea territoeis
HEALTH OUTCOMES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Peer-reviewed papers
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Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, Magda Maaoui, and Sophia Wedeen. “Rental Deserts, Segregation, and Zoning”, Journal of Urban Affairs, February 2025.
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Lance Freeman, and Magda Maaoui. “Inclusionary Zoning in New York and Paris: Trojan horse or Antidote to Gentrification?”, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Working Paper, June 2022.
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Maaoui, Magda. “The SRU Law, twenty years later: evaluating the legacy of France’s most important social housing program”, Housing Studies, August 2021.
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Maaoui, Magda. “In Search of the Grand Paris: an Interview with Pierre Mansat on the Eve of the June 2020 municipal elections”, Metropolitics - Métropolitiques, June 2020.
Book chapters
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Maaoui, Magda (2020). “The SRU Law: When French Zoning Says No to Inclusion” [Pop-out Case], in Zoning: A Guide for 21st-Century Planning [editors: Sclar, Stahl, Baird-Zars, with contributions by Jerold Kayden, Rachel Meltzer et al.], Routledge.
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Maaoui, Magda, et al. (Preface). Pour en finir avec le petit Paris, Paris: Archicity, November 2024.
Planning reports
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Contribution to the APUR Executive Report “Inégalités sociales et territoriales de santé dans la Métropole du Grand Paris”, Paris, October 2023.
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Contribution to the APUR Report “Recours aux soins et aux dispositifs de prévention : Inégalités sociales et territoriales de santé dans la Métropole du Grand Paris”, Paris, October 2023.
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Contribution to the APUR Report “Actions en santé publique : sensibilisation, promotion et prévention” (Clément Boisseuil, project manager, Emilie Moreau, Director of social and economic projects), Paris, May 2023.
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Contribution to the APUR Report “L’offre de soins dans la Métropole du Grand Paris : Inégalités sociales et territoriales de santé” (Clément Boisseuil, project manager, Emilie Moreau, Director of social and economic projects), Paris, March 2023.
Media articles
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Maaoui, Magda. “Social contract: Parisian social housing”, The Architectural Review (France issue posted June 30, 2022). [Top 20 Architectural Review articles of 2022]
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Maaoui, Magda. “Logement social : La Loi SRU menacée par le projet 3DS ?”, Bondy Blog (posted December 17, 2021).
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Pierre Mansat, Maaoui, Magda et al. “La Métropole du Grand Paris paraît inopérante pour gérer un espace de 12 millions d’habitants”. Le Monde (Op-ed posted June 24, 2021).
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Pierre Mansat, Maaoui, Magda et al. “Élections régionales en Île-de-France : “Les débats de fond concernant l’avenir de la région métropolitaine parisienne ne sont jamais abordés”. Le Monde (Op-ed posted April 25, 2021).
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Maaoui, Magda. “La cité confinée à la lumière de la rythmanalyse", Bondy Blog (Op-ed posted May 11, 2020).
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Pierre Mansat, Maaoui, Magda et al. “Avec le Grand Paris, le temps de la citoyenneté métropolitaine est venu”. Le Monde (Op-ed posted February 19, 2020).
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Maaoui, Magda. “Les Misérables aux Oscars, pour mettre les mauvais cultivateurs des quartiers au banc des accusés", Bondy Blog (Op-ed posted February 8, 2020).
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Maaoui, Magda. “Changing Peripheries: the Obduracy of Buildings (and People who live in them)”, URBAN Magazine, Columbia University GSAPP: Volume 29, Fall 2019.
Podcasts
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Interview on Housing Voice about the 20-year legacy of France’s SRU Law for mandatory social housing construction “Social Housing in France” - UCLA Lewis Center
Media mentions of our work
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“En 2026, le Grand Paris a besoin d’un projet commun”, La Grande Conversation (posted January 21, 2025).
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“Incendies à Los Angeles : les constructions en bois, boucs émissaires des négligences d'urbanisme", Libération (posted January 15, 2025).
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“What France got right about social housing—and the lessons for California urban planners”, Bay Area Local News Matters (posted January 14, 2025).
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“Logement social: l’exécutif remet en cause l’objectif de mixité”, Le Monde (posted March 13, 2024).
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“Les patients en affection longue durée surreprésentés dans les zones pauvres du Grand Paris”, Libération (posted October 19, 2023).
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“Dans quel quartier de Paris trouve-t-on le plus de médecins ?”, Actualités de Paris (posted April 3, 2023).
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“Déserts médicaux : quelles villes des Hauts-de-Seine ont le plus de médecins”, Actualités des Hauts-de-Seine (posted April 3, 2023).
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“Logement social : ce que le modèle de Rennes peut inspirer aux autres communes”, Envies de Ville - Nexity (posted March 3, 2022).
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“Logement social. ‘Rennes est un modèle à copier’”, Ouest-France (posted January 4, 2022).
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“Les sanctions de la Loi SRU n’ont pas d’effet incitatif”, La Gazette des Communes (posted October 1, 2021).