Urban Policy, Local Administration and Land Use Planning in Lille

Abstract

Urban policy initiatives are a characteristic of most European countries. These initiatives have developed within the context of existing legislative frameworks, particularly relating to public administration and land use. The Contrat de Ville, recently introduced as a mechanism for urban policy coordination and implementation, has developed within an administrative structure based on 36,000 communes, Schémas Directeur and Plans d'Occupation des Sols. This article outlines the development of urban policy and describes the existing structures before questioning the constraints which these may pose for urban policy development. Using the case of the Contrat de Ville for Lille, it then assesses how far these structures have constrained the development of the Contrat.

Six years of urban policy in France: Thecontrat de villeprogramme

“…In large intercommunal groupings the management of the process and in part the implementation of policy has been conferred on the technical services of districts or communautes urbaines (as at Lyon) or upon Agences d'urbanisme (as at Lille). 15 For an urban area to have its own technical agency in charge of the contract, and to be able to mediate between the different agencies and the State and the interests of particular communes, is clearly preferred by the communes to a process that is directly managed from within the prefecture by agents of central government.…”

Commerce and the European City Center: Modernization, Regeneration and Management

“…In the last two decades, the Lille metropolis has experienced many changes (see Thornley & Newman, 1996;Green & Booth, 1996;Lemas, 2000). With over 200 thousand inhabitants, it is now the centre of a cross-border metropolitan region of 1.8 million people, one third of them in Belgium.…”

Commerce and the European City Center: Modernization, Regeneration and Management

“…With over 200 thousand inhabitants, it is now the centre of a cross-border metropolitan region of 1.8 million people, one third of them in Belgium. In the last two decades, the Lille metropolis has experienced many changes (see Thornley & Newman, 1996;Green & Booth, 1996;Lemas, 2000). Its location at the heart of the triangle formed by London, Paris and Brussels allowed Lille to capitalize on a series of strategic projects that have changed its image from a traditional textile and industrial conurbation to an emerging service and regenerated metropolis.…”