A l’occasion de ce colloque, des interviews des intervenants ont été réalisées, portant sur quatre des sujets clés qui ont été abordés:
- la crise financière et la gouvernance urbaine
- la question de la métropole
- les transports à l’échelle métropolitaine
- la métropole comme nouveau lieu de cohésion dans une perspective européenne

Découvrez la première des vidéos, portant sur la crise financière et la gouvernance urbaine.

Financial Crisis and Urban Governance par dm_516bcf9e65f9e

Pour voir les autres vidéos, rendez-vous sur la page du projet Inflowence.

Les autres vidéos réalisées à l’occasion du colloque ont porté sur:
- la crise financière et la gouvernance urbaine
- les transports à l’échelle métropolitaine
- la métropole comme nouveau lieu de cohésion dans une perspective européenne

Pour y accéder, rendez-vous sur la page du projet Inflowence.

Les autres vidéos réalisées à l’occasion du colloque ont porté sur:
- la crise financière et la gouvernance urbaine
- la question de la métropole
- la métropole comme nouveau lieu de cohésion dans une perspective européenne

Pour y accéder, rendez-vous sur la page du projet Inflowence.

The metropole, a new place for cohesion par dm_516bcf9e65f9e
 

Les autres vidéos réalisées à l’occasion du colloque ont porté sur:

- la crise financière et la gouvernance urbaine
- la question de la métropole
- les transports métropolitains

Pour y accéder, rendez-vous sur la page du projet Inflowence.

La guerre du Mali, les changements de régime intervenus en Tunisie, en Égypte, en Libye, le bouillonnement démocratique qui les accompagnent jusqu’à aujourd’hui, l’instabilité politique qui semble s’être installée durablement dans la région après des décennies « d’hibernation » politique invite immanquablement l’Europe à redéfinir ses relations et son positionnement vis-à-vis de ses voisins du Sud. Dans quel sens? Et pour quoi faire? Francis Ghilès souligne ici le dilemme auquel se voit confronté une Europe, condamnée contre son gré, en dépit de ses divisions, à rouvrir la « boite à outil impériale ».

Pour en savoir plus: télécharger l’article dans son intégralité.

Les deux journées suivantes ont été consacrées à la réunion du Comité de Pilotage du projet GOUV’AIRNANCE, et ont permis de présenter l’état d’avancement du projet dans les territoires concernés.

Dans un esprit collaboratif, le site est actuellement en cours de réalisation, par l’ensemble des partenaires du projet.

N’hésitez pas à le diffuser dès à présent autour de vous.

Optimising territories management through efficient and federative shared governance models is one of the issues currently at stake in polycentric urban systems, characterized by several centres of power and tight interurban linkages – development model promoted by the European Commission in Mediterranean regions. The ongoing economic and financial crisis is a disruptive factor likely to contribute to modify power relationship between the different levels of political decision and accelerate underlying movements already on going. Thus, on the one hand, the crisis increases the weakening of political power, promoting the emergence of a new actor, civil society, in the governance. On the other hand, the potential impact of the crisis in economic, social and environmental terms, through resources scarcity, implies to think differently the notion of public investment and territories development in order to prevent imbalance between local authorities or compensate for the reconsideration of important infrastructure projects that crisis might entail.

In introduction, the debate focused on the impact of the financial crisis in Europe on urban governance, in other words, the financial constraints that are imposed on local actors, will they lead to streamline management methods, for example by pooling a number of responsibilities to larger functional scales? The issue is particularly burning those days in Marseille, where the controversial project supported by the French government to create a metropole around the cities of Marseille, Aix-en-Provence and Aubagne, which would mutualize some of the traditional prerogatives of the municipalities by federating them under the unique control of a metropole, is strongly rejected by most of the mayors of the cities in the area.

The creation of a metropole in Marseille would formalize in administrative terms the reality lived by its inhabitants everyday, as polycentricity is the reality of Marseille and its surroundings: the city is composed by more than a hundred small villages preserving their own identity, and the region is characterized by a mix between preserved landscapes and spread of housing. Furthermore, many activities have been redirected from Marseille to surrounding cities, creating polycentric patterns of development at regional level. The territory is also typified by the very important interlinkages which exist between the different urban centres: industrial and entrepreneurial activities are spread out in the area, notably in centres exclusively dedicated to these activities, like “Aix Les Milles” near Aix-en-Provence or Fos Port near Marseille; commercial activities may also be concentrated in specific places, like Plan de Campagne, which is the greatest commercial centre in France; leisure and cultural places are located in the major urban centres.

Now, urban and regional governance are confronted with problems of fragmentation and low efficiency in the public sector, as national and local authorities find themselves in a non-hierarchical organization and all strategic decisions need complex negotiation processes at political level. Transportation, and more generally all matters related to the preservation of the environment, is one of the issues which could benefit most from a reorganization of competences, as it can be effectively treated, due to the changing lifestyles and transport, at a scale that exceeds the current administrative boundaries.

In Marseille area, the repartition of activities on a territory whose specificity lies in the coexistence of urban and peri-urban areas strongly interrelated leads to an important mobility of its inhabitants, as many people work or study in different cities from those where they actually live. Therefore, capacity for inhabitants of the area to move easily from a place to another on a daily basis constitutes a key challenge for this territory. Now, despite linkages and dependencies of the territory around Marseille, inhabitants suffer from difficulties in moving, due to high traffic level and lack of public transportation. This results from a real lack of governance coordination and collective decision, that, added to other factors – scarce financial resources, specificities of the urban landscape in Marseille – impedes to take action which would significantly improve inhabitants’ quality of life.

Public transport organisation in Bouches-du-Rhône province is indeed segmented into 8 Public Urban Transport Authorities, added to 2 Non Urban Public Transport Authorities, which are the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region and the Bouches-du-Rhône Province. They all work autonomously with separated logics, without making in coherence urban with interurban fields. In 2009, a public transport authority (“syndicat mixte des transports”) was created in the province of Bouches-du-Rhône. This authority is gathering the Province of Bouches-du-Rhône together with seven Public Transport Authorities from the Province. Nevertheless, this organisation has not for the moment real powers, which are reduced to study what it should be. Therefore, the creation of this public transport authority is an important step forwards but shows that the situation is still blocked.

Now, the metropolitan scale seems gradually imposed in all major European cities as the relevant scale which can effectively organize a sustainable policy taking into account both the changing lifestyles but also environmental constraints. Barcelona and its Metropolitan Area are an example of metropolitan strategy coordinating functions at metropole scale, notably in the field of transport. The issue of Marseille Metropole is now up to date and the debate involves the opportunities and disadvantages of a more complex organization, which would impact firstly the organization of transport. While the Congress was taking place, 85 local authorities of the area claimed they were against the Metropole project.

Public investment issue was also discussed, and proposed as a solution to the problem of scarcity of financial resources due to the crisis. Scarcity of financial resources deeply impacts public investment coming from local authorities, as in France, public investment is derived for a large part from local authorities, rather than State. Investment is indispensable for territorial development, but in times of crisis, loans from banks are difficult to obtain for local authorities, as banks which lent to local authorities are bankrupt or do not lend money as easily.

Now, public investment is necessary for several reasons: it is the only means of leveraging private investment. Public investment is indeed usually considered following service and taxation principles, whereas public investment can also leverage other financing. Furthermore, it brings favourable conditions for economic activity development and permits to fight against territorial divide that private financial logic does not allow. It also ensures interdependence between private investments and makes them safe through operations of co-financing. At last, public investment is the only means to finance great European projects (Airbus for example).

For long, local public investment has been implemented in isolated ways. Nowadays, crisis pushes to more efficiency, long-term approach and collaboration. This must be done through a shared model of governance including complete partnerships between all the involved actors, different from public-private partnerships. This improved coordination between public and private funding, would allow to share investments and risks as well as benefits.

Another problem in Europe nowadays is the absence of separation between productive and non productive investment in local authorities budget: financial and banking conditions are the same for a local authority which wants to finance an equipment of urban comfort or an area of economic activity. In crisis times, non productive investment is promoted. Therefore, an important reform could consist in separating these two kinds of investment in local authorities budget, and ensure that State acts as guarantor of productive investments of local authorities.

At last, the role of civil society in decision-making was debated, particularly related to evaluation of public policies: how can organized civil society contribute to the elaboration of a new form of democracy

Public policy evaluation, albeit necessary, cannot be only accounting valuation, nor budgetary or legal. It should also deal with objectives, implementation and objectives. Some initiatives from organized civil society have already been taken, notably in France, to try and evaluate public policies. Now, are elected representatives willing to tolerate that a third party interferes in evaluation whereas some of them consider universal suffrage as the unique evaluator?

In addition, most decisions from local authorities do not present any objectives. Now, evaluation, which permits to measure decision impact in order to influence future decisions, is impossible without objectives, and thwarts citizens’ appropriation.

Nowadays, a local project of important structural investment is likely to succeed only if leveraging permits to attract other financing and if there is a real appropriation by the population which will use the new equipment or service. Speakers at the congress emphasized that it was the means to optimize the use of local financing difficult to mobilize. This could be one of the solutions taken by local authorities to fight against the crisis which were advanced by the speakers, in a congress willing to open a space for debate in critical times.

For any information, you can contact: Mathilde Dioudonnat : +33 491 31 51 95 – m.dioudonnat(at)ins-med.org

La première journée permettra de réunir autour de table-ronde des élus qui portent les enjeux de durabilité et d’efficacité énergétique sur leur territoire et qui viendront débattre avec les participants de ces questions. La matinée du mardi 9 octobre sera centrée sur la thématique de l’innovation technique et financière nécessaire à la rénovation énergétiques des logements des ménages à faible revenu en Méditerranée. Enfin, l’après-midi consistera en un atelier de capitalisation autour de l’implication du secteur privé dans des opérations de rénovation portant sur les logements des ménages à faible revenu.

Pour consulter les agendas:

ELIH-MED agenda Forum 8oct12

ELIH-MED agenda conference 9oct12

ELIH-Med atelier capitalisation 9oct12

Si vous souhaitez participer, merci nous contacter par mail: a.seon(a)ins-med.org

Vous trouverez ci-joint l’agenda de ces deux journées: Agenda Evénement annuel MED Chypre FR

Plus d’informations sur cet évènement annuel