This comparative study investigates the contemporary social and political characteristics and activities of the urban middle classes in Paris and London. It investigates a range of neighbourhood types in each city: inner city gentrified (not socially mixed); gentrifying (socially mixed); suburban; exurban and gated communities; to ask to what extent the middle classes compare or contrast across these different locations in terms of their social relations and political attitudes and engagements (including, for example, schooling, use of public services and neighbourhood activism). The research consists of depth interviews with middle class residents and elite actors in each neighbourhood as well as an analysis of relevant documents that discuss middle class identity and activity in these cities. The study will to draw out the implications of the findings for urban politics and policies (compared with the role the middle classes are assumed to play in these policies) at the neighbourhood, city, national and transnational scales. This is a fully comparative bilateral project with colleagues in Paris who are equivalently funded by the Agence de Nationale de la Recherche.

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