Plonger dans les canaux, reconquérir la Seine

This article looks at the publicization process of Parisian waterways, triggered by the return of bathing practices. While their banks have become central public spaces on a city scale, their waters remain generally inaccessible to residents. However, in the 2010s, forms of appropriation such as swimming are once again becoming visible in the public sphere and in situ. Paris City Hall is gradually localising its response to this new public problem in the Seine, Marne and canals, as part of various policies (water, sport, climate) whereas a collective is campaigning for the right to bathe in open water in the city. The opening up of these areas to the public has involved the development of formal and informal bathing schemes, and various phases of negotiation on the sharing of uses and access to the waterways. However, the swim­ming ban is maintained, and the opening up of these areas remains conditional, contingent, uncertain and even revocable.