Cities are places inhabited by complex ontologies. They host human and non-human components (animals, plants, micro-organisms), technical objects (buildings, infrastructure, means of locomotion) and collective regulatory instruments (town planning codes, planning instruments) in hybrid spaces composed of multiple historical strata.

Although not all of the interactions can be programmed, a certain number of norms organise these encounters, which take place continuously, on every street corner, at every scale, between all the inhabitants, and between technical objects and the organisations which intervene on the production and the management of urban space. Although these norms are not always totally explicit, nor are they always imposed by stabilised institutions, they do play a part in the construction of cities and the way we live in them.

This workshop brings together philosophers, geographers, anthropologists and sociologists, to initiate a collective reflection on how to describe the way in which norms (legal, moral, religious, behavioural, clothing, etc.) manifest their presence and their constraints in urban spaces. This invites us to reflect on their materialisation in gestures, attitudes, objects and texts, or their activation in linguistic interactions and exchanges. Our aim is to examine, both by looking at the most sophisticated ways of organising collective existence and exploring the details of ordinary life, how norms guide actions, in terms of preferential choices or prohibitions. In outlining these lines of inquiry, the aim is to show how the humanities and the social sciences make visible norms that have been rendered invisible by habit, power relationships, ideology and complexity.

Convened by Morgan Clarke (Keble College), Martine Drozdz (MFO) and Perig Pitrou (MFO)
With the support of the CNRS NOVI International Research Network.