Paper short abstract:

to follow

Paper long abstract:

Relative newcomers in road-building history, traffic circles are increasingly used, as least in Western Europe, to smooth out the flow of automobiles and reduce their speed at particularly dangerous crossroads. Void of technical functions, the central space of these focal points is of uneasy access. Being thus relatively protected from uncivil behaviour, it is frequently used as a support for more or less elaborately staged presentations of the local natural or cultural heritage, or for public art display. An ethnography of the massive introduction of roundabouts in France and Portugal in the last 20 years leads to considerations on how specific technical constraints can interact with cultural narratives and fashion the way public spaces are turned - or not -- into cultural places.