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The fraught ‘menage à trois’ of public actors, private players and inhabitants: Problems of participation in French urban development projects

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  • Camille Gardesse

Abstract

This paper aims to analyse the possibilities for deploying participative arrangements in French urban projects by focusing on the potential for a shift towards a ‘negotiated project’-type model. Taking the ‘ concertation process’ deployed as part of the City of Paris’ plan to redevelop the Les Halles district between 2002 and 2010, the article sheds light on the two regulatory systems existing side by side, namely, urban project development and consultation. The article discusses a number of explanatory factors: structural aspects linked to how French public bodies are organised, the positions of actors vis-à -vis urban development practices and how these are represented, which is related to the prevalence of a model based on a process of dual delegation of power and know-how. Finally, the paper will demonstrate the key importance of a private partner in the whole decision-making process via ‘institutional consultation’ to the detriment of ‘citizen concertation ’. Setting up participative arrangements does not substantially modify planning processes or decision-making systems for French urban development projects. Indeed, changes apparently at work in urban production governance processes raise questions concerning the possibility of incorporating inhabitant participation into public–private partnerships that may minimise public actors’ room for manoeuvre in terms of any dialogue with local residents. With regard to urban design research, this problem suggests a need to rethink the whole urban planning system and to look at all aspects of urban planning organisation, including the interaction between the public, civil society and private actors.

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  • Camille Gardesse, 2015. "The fraught ‘menage à trois’ of public actors, private players and inhabitants: Problems of participation in French urban development projects," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(16), pages 3035-3053, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:52:y:2015:i:16:p:3035-3053
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098014555631
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. John F. Forester, 1999. "The Deliberative Practitioner: Encouraging Participatory Planning Processes," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262561220, December.
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