ABSTRACT
This chapter defends the idea that the relationship between a place under transformation and the proliferation of 'observers' and 'witnesses' is related to a need for comprehension of the contemporary dynamics of urban development. It explains rather than stroll through the classical Parisian cobbled passages that Benjamin describes, people will stride through parts of the city that are undergoing urban transformations. The chapter presents the research which meets the shift that fieldwork had to face between walking as a tool of enquiry in research and walking as a collective practice to be observed. It explores the collective exceptional mobility of associations and uses the definition of association referring to the French context. In French culture citizens' associations represent one of the highest expressions of civil society's engagement and can take very different forms. The chapter shows how 'walking through', 'walking with' and organized walks are at the same time ways of understanding, inhabiting and domesticating the entre-temps of urban transformations.
