Pour une socioéconomie de l’intermédiation territoriale. Une approche conceptuelle

Our proposal aims to introduce the concept of territorial intermediation in the dynamics of territorial development and to define its main characteristics. Embodied by intermediary actors and materialized by particular devices and tools, it takes the form of modes and processes regulating behaviors and relationships between actors of the territorial system. Territorial intermediation thus allows to open the «black box» of territorial development and to better understand organizational and decision-making mechanisms and behaviors. The article shows that the need for intermediation is particularly acute in the current context of globalization and successive crises, including public policies and actions that aim at framing the market and its failures. Territorial intermediation then questions the construction of territories and the specificity of places and the capacity to promote the territorialization of projects carried out locally.