New ‘battle plan’ to improve life in French banlieues

When Emmanuel Macron announced his bid for the French presidency in November 2016 from Seine-Saint-Denis, the poorest suburb in France, the message was clear: improving the social situation in the French banlieues, or suburbs, was one of his priorities. Seine-Saint-Denis, located just northeast of Paris, had long been synonymous with the conditions that blight France’s banlieues – about 10 percent