Qualifications paysagères de la ville : l’espace aérien des toits de New York dans le cinéma américain (1980-2011)
This research takes place in the general context of life in the city today, a life in the city which accompanies a strong interest for the question of landscape and the question of quality of life and urban environment, all while keeping in mind sustainable development of the city. In a specific context in which densification and redevelopment encompass a more intensive and multifunctional use of spaces, it seems appropriate to focus on the issue of flat rooftops of the great North American city, spaces that are traditionally forgotten and underutilized.  Taking into account the current interest in rooftops and the issues about the urban landscape, in terms of social demand, design and research, we took interest in the question of the landscape valorization of the aerial city through the representations of New York City rooftops in contemporary American cinema. Using the discursive constructionist approach as well as the concept of representation and the concept of landscape, we developed a mixed methodology which uses film content analysis and landscape valorization analysis. In total, we analyzed more than 185 films released between 1980 and 2011.  By linking cinematic representations with historical uses of New York City rooftops, we identified three main patterns of New York rooftop landscape valorization: the emblematic New York, the romantic New York and the domestic rooftop. Both multiple and dichotomous, but not homogeneous nor monolithic, these valorizations are rooted in the New York rooftop landscape invention that came together mainly at the end of 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. These landscape valorizations represent a modernized take on the New York rooftop landscape invention and in that sense are different from the major landscape inventions of the last three centuries in the following aspects:  the reduced emphasis on nature, the role of cinema in the process of the invention of landscape and the role of man and their uses of rooftops in that process. The latter, which is the sociological perspective resulting from human presence, uses and movement through the process of landscape valorization, is also one of the key elements of this research as well as one of its two main contributions. The second main contribution being the data collection method which takes into account the factual dimension and the sensory one, thus positioning itself among new trends of landscape study where these two dimensions, rather than oppose, are considered integral parts of the landscape.
New York Landscape valorization Invention of landscape Urban landscape Representation Uses Rooftop Cinema New York City