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This study of a northern Paris squat allows the author both to show the adaptations made by representatives of the State when faced with situations whose public management is unclear and to study the “private forms of management” (local associations) which step in to replace public authorities judged to be weak: a symptom of local deterioration, the squat focuses residents’ feelings of abandonment and downward social mobility. In the same line, this study enables the author to analyze squatter strategies for impinging on the way they are seen.