| Summary: | While poor urban districts are being radically transformed, even partially demolished, as part of urban renewal operations, the enhancement of their history has been institutionalized as an element in the social arsenal of these public projects. Some authors wonder about the meaning of such initiatives in terms of local history, associated with urban interventions that erase part of the heritage of these neighbourhoods, often without genuinely consulting inhabitants. In contrast to this top-down memorial stance, several initiatives took place in recent years, driven by groups of inhabitants that aim to explore the history of their neighbourhood to contest demolition projects imposed by public authorities. With the support of university groups, these approaches give rise to a locally embedded coproduction of a district’s history. This article analyses two of these experiences in poor urban neighbourhoods with distinct profiles: Valibout (Plaisir — France) and Vila das Antenas (Belo Horizonte — Brazil). In these two districts, collaborative research has been set up in recent years as part of mobilizations against urban renewal projects carried out by the municipalities. The comparative analysis combines a participant observation approach with interviews conducted with researchers and residents involved in these initiatives. Through a cross-observation of the cases, the paper explores the methodological, epistemological and political stakes of such experiences to understand their effects on local mobilization, the production of historical knowledge, and the making of the city.
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