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quartiers de Grands Ensemble

English translation: High Density Estates/Housing/Developments

12:56 Mar 23, 2014
French to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Construction / Civil Engineering / housing
French term or phrase: quartiers de Grands Ensemble
From the same text, just wondering whether to leave the term in Frenc and translate behind or just give an adequate translation?
Thanks

Lisa
Richardson Lisa
France
Local time: 00:36
English translation:High Density Estates/Housing/Developments
Explanation:
I'd avoid high rise as not all buildings are tower blocks

grands ensembles
Selected response from:

John Peterson
Local time: 23:36
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +1big blocks of housing estates/ or office buildings (see below)
piazza d
3 +2High Density Estates/Housing/Developments
John Peterson
4[Housing] Project neighborhoods
jmleger
3areas for large-size buildings
Mario Freitas
3High rise building complexes
MAHESH K
Summary of reference entries provided
Nikki Scott-Despaigne

Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


59 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
big blocks of housing estates/ or office buildings (see below)


Explanation:
depending on who or what they are aimed at

piazza d
France
Local time: 00:36
Native speaker of: French
PRO pts in category: 6

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  mchd
1 hr
  -> thank you
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
High Density Estates/Housing/Developments


Explanation:
I'd avoid high rise as not all buildings are tower blocks

grands ensembles

John Peterson
Local time: 23:36
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  philgoddard: This is not exact, but I think it's the closest approximation to Nikki's reference. Developments is probably the best term, as all the categories of housing in her reference are either new builds or renovations.
2 hrs
  -> Thanks
neutral  Anne Bohy: "grands ensembles" were tower blocks, hence high rise. The way they used to build new housing in the 60s.
8 hrs
  -> thanks - though I don't think that they were exclusively high rise; hence a more "nuanced" suggestion
agree  ACOZ (X): Yes, high density housing is the term used here in Adelaide.
13 hrs
  -> thanks
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
areas for large-size buildings


Explanation:
Suggestion

Mario Freitas
Brazil
Local time: 19:36
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
[Housing] Project neighborhoods


Explanation:
Strictly US English.

You can also shorten to "projects"

Like Cabrini Greens in Chicago

jmleger
Local time: 17:36
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 40

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Daryo: that would be the USA version; we don't know what is the target audience
2 days 15 hrs
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19 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
High rise building complexes


Explanation:
simple suggestion

MAHESH K
India
Local time: 04:06
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in TamilTamil
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Reference comments


3 hrs peer agreement (net): +2
Reference

Reference information:
It would be helpful if the town was provided, but do note that "grand ensemble" does have a particular meaning as you suspect.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_ensemble
"On peut distinguer 3 contextes de construction de ces grands ensembles à la fin des années 1950 et début des années 1960 :
- de nouveaux quartiers périphériques de villes anciennes ayant pour objectif de reloger des populations installées dans des logements insalubres en centre-ville ou pour accueillir des populations venues des campagnes environnantes (cas les plus fréquents).
- des villes nouvelles liées à l'implantation d'industries nouvelles ou à la politique d'aménagement du territoire : c'est le cas de Mourenx (avec le Gaz de Lacq), Bagnols-sur-Cèze ou Pierrelatte (liées à l'industrie nucléaire). On voit aussi des cas hybrides avec la première situation, avec des implantations proches de villes satellites de Paris, dans le but de contrebalancer l'influence de cette dernière : c'est le cas de la politique des "3M" dans le département de Seine-et-Marne avec la construction de grands ensembles liés à des zones industrielles à Meaux, Melun, Montereau-Fault-Yonne.
- des opérations de rénovation de quartiers anciens : le quartier de la Porte de Bâle à Mulhouse, l'îlot Bièvre dans le 13e arrondissement de Paris, le centre-ville ancien de Chelles.

Il est à noter qu'un grand ensemble n'est pas forcément un ensemble de logements sociaux : il peut s'agir aussi de logements de standing, comme le quartier de la Rouvière à Marseille10."


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2014-03-23 16:18:17 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

http://sspsd.u-strasbg.fr/IMG/pdf/GrandsEnsembles.bis.pdf

"Philippe Pinchemel, géographe, en
donne une définition en 1959 : « Le
terme de grand ensemble est appliqué
à des réalisations de grande envergure
comportant plusieurs milliers de
logements et qui se veulent des unités
résidentielles équilibrées et
complètes », Revue Logement, n° 115,
octobre 1959."

"Du point de vue quantitatif, tantôt c’est le
seuil des 1000 logements, tantôt celui des
500 qui prévaut. Ce dernier est formel : il
correspond au seuil minimal nécessaire pour
la programmation d’une ZUP après 1958."

"Outre la taille, c’est le principe d’autonomie
territorial qui est important ainsi qu’en
témoigne l’expression de « quartier d’habitat
collectif ».

"Les grands ensembles ne relèvent pas tout le temps
de l’habitat social. Juridiquement, le logement est
défini comme « social » lorsqu’il a bénéficié pour sa
réalisation du concours réglementaire et financier de
l’État avec pour mission d’accueillir les couches les
moins favorisées de la population.
• Des grands ensembles en copropriété existent, qui
ont été construits sans prime ni aide de l’État.
• On ne peut pas les qualifier d’après leur mode de
financement, parce que ce dernier est loin d’être
unique."

"Une notion chargée d’ambiguïté mais qu’on
peut cerner à partir de 5 critères:
– La rupture introduite avec le tissu urbain ancien
– La forme (tours et barres)
– La taille (plus de 500 logements)
– Le mode de financement (aidé par l’État)
– et la globalité de la conception conduisant à la
rationalisation, à la répétitivité et à l’inclusion
réglementaire des équipements."

As you can see, even the specialists have a job pinpointing the term. Together, these definitions may nevertheless be of help.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 8 hrs (2014-03-23 21:46:38 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

If your original is referring to housing alone, then a couple of the terms suggested would probably be suitable. I did a search with ["grand ensemble" + "English"] and among the suggestions I found were "housing project" "housing development". You might like to consider a mix of these oreven something more descriptive "large-scale housing development". Might be worth going back to Google and trying a number of different Boolean searches.

Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 50
Note to reference poster
Asker: Hi Nikki, this text doesn't talk about a specific town- it's looking back at the fallbacks of former urban developments and the current measures in place for development of social housing. My first thought was 'major housing schemes' but I'm not sure that reflects the idea of 'quartier' adequately.


Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  philgoddard
1 hr
agree  writeaway: It's amazing how much doing research can help. The caps used in the question are misleading.
1 hr
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