A sensitive urban zone is an urban area in France defined by the authorities to be a high-priority target for city policy, taking into consideration local circumstances related to the problems of its residents. On the 26th of December 1996, 750 ZUS were founded by the décret n°96-1156. The 751th ZUS «Nouveau Mons» in Mons-en-Baroeul was founded on the 24th of August 2000 by the décret n°2000- 796. On the 31st of July 2001, the décret n°2001-707 has changed the périmeter of Grigny's ZUS. There are 751 sensitive urban zones in France, including 718 in mainland France. The government has published the list of zones and maps of each one.
A law passed November 14, 1996 created sensitive urban zones and urban tax-free zones. 752 of these zones were created in France, including 718 in mainland France. The law of November 14, 1996 distinguishes three levels of intervention:
The three levels of intervention, characterized by fiscal and social measures of increasing importance, target the difficulties encountered in these districts with differing degrees of response. Contrary to generally accepted ideas, these sensitive districts are in the center of cities and not just the outskirts. The situation in these areas in difficulty was difficult to evaluate precisely, based on many statistics which were inadequate in certain areas, scattered or badly collected. To remedy these problems and more accurately measure the effect of policy implementation, the National Observatory of Sensitive Urban Zones was created in a law passed on August 1, 2003. These ZUS are distributed throughout 490 communes and include 4.7 million inhabitants. Among them a subset of 416 zones of urban renewal was created, including 396 in mainland France. The ZRU contain 3.2 million inhabitants, and present unique challenges. Almost all departments are affected; the only exceptions are nine strongly agricultural departments.
In January 2015, after the Charlie Hebdo shooting, several items on Fox News labeled the ZUS as "Islamic no-go zones". French media agencies denied these claims. After complaints Fox News issued an apology, saying that there was "no credible information to support the assertion there are specific areas in these countries that exclude individuals based solely on their religion."
