| Summary: | The object of this research was the study of those places in which exchanges and transactions take place not only between immigrants and the indigenous population, but also between the different ethnic immigrant groups within the Lausanne agglomeration. The study also examined the context in which these places emerged, their history and the discourses which constitute their apologies. This approach allows us to understand the nature of these places, of their role within the urban environment and of the different types of relationships which can be created. It allows us to do this by placing the emphasis on the representations that are made of them, on the construction of sense and the way in which space is structured. Our interest in these "hybrid places" stems from the notion that immigration in urban centres promotes a "culture of mixedness" which in itself represents the central issue in the whole question of cohabitation between and integration of different populations at the urban scale. The focus is on the attempt to understand the significance of these hybrid places in the eyes of those actors who use them, or pass judgement on them. The ethno-methodological approach is that of participating observation, the recording and interpretation of interactions as well as unstructured interviews, with the aim to ascertain the details of integration and segregation processes.
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