The research project began in 1996, with a case study in one of the most distressed
neighbourhoods in one of the largest cities in France, Marseille. The inhabitants of this
neighbourhood have now been relocated to new housing for low income families, near the appartment complex which has been studied in the second case study in the last year. This appartment complex of social housing is currently being demolished. Therefore, its inhabitants, as the tenants of the other case study complex must be rehoused. The current research focuses on rehousing, planning policies, participative negociations and ethnicity. Each of these concepts have been carefully elaborated in my research since I started on the project. This will be the focus of the presentation at the Ph.D. Workshop, while giving a historical description of the main theme of my thesis: urban planning and negociations.