The Middle Classes in Urban Space
This article intends to return to the urban middle-class behaviors from an empirical study conducted in the Parisian metropolis. Trying to overcome the dichotomy between social openness on one side and search for self-segregation on the other, it analyzes the residential choices and practices relative to space of households at different scales. If the area of residence retains its whole social and classification value, the middle classes, while operating in a world of stress, have the particularity to reach using the resources of a highly diversified, at its different scales, for build a suitable residential environment. In contrast, one of the dimensions of segregation for the popular classes is that they are probably much less able to play with scales and locations and to put the stress away.