Conference Program

This paper examines the hypothesis that schools are increasingly becoming “urban amenities”. The findings show that this pattern may apply to some private schools, but much less to public schools in the French cities studied here, despite a catchment area system that closely ties access to public schools to place of residence.

Some research suggest that, in countries with a catchment-area system, parents are more likely to consider the characteristics of local schools than in countries with a system of free school choice (Boterman et al., 2019). In the United States for instance, sociologists highlight that public schools are increasingly becoming urban amenities that urban planners can leverage to attract socially advantaged families, particularly in city centers (Cucchiara, 2013; Nafaa & Maaoui, 2025). The liberalization of school choice in certain cities—through the creation of charter schools, for example—would thus weaken the link between school and residential choice (Ely & Teske, 2015).

My study questions this hypothesis in the French context, where there is a system of catchment area in public schools but not in private ones. Because they are strongly funded by the state, private schools are not very expensive, and 17.3% of primary and secondary education students were enrolled in private schools in 2023.

I conducted ninety-three interviews with middle- and upper-class parents in socially diverse neighborhoods within the city centers and suburbs of two regional French cities. While school choice sometimes influenced families’ residential trajectories, very few interviewees considered their catchment area when choosing where to live. Conversely, several did consider the location of private schools. This observation leads me to question how parents perceive public and private schools and their anchoring within the urban landscape.

I first show that, before having children in school, parents rarely perceive public schools as services that vary locally. It is through the concrete experience of parenthood that they see differences between public schools, particularly in terms of the student populations they serve. Since it is primarily the transition to middle school that is a source of concern in France, this worry may arise well after the decision to move to a new neighborhood—a decision often made around the time children are born. Encouraged by the Republican ideal of a centralized and egalitarian school system, this relative absence of early concern is also made possible by the availability of affordable private schools, which provide an alternative for middle- and upper-class families who realize that their local school does not suit them.

Conversely, parents who prefer private education pay closer attention to school locations. Prestigious private schools can be viewed as “amenities” of affluent neighborhoods, as their presence is a feature of the urban landscape that contributes to making these neighborhoods appealing for upper-class families. This challenges the idea that school districts significantly influence families’ residential choices and instead suggests that the location of private schools is likely to have a greater impact on residential trajectories of some parents.