Metropolitics

Russia's “Authoritarian Modernization” Through Urbanization: What Lessons Can Be Learned from New Moscow?

Vladimir Pawlotsky & translated by Oliver Waine — 2024-06-28T05:00:00Z

Can the recent New Moscow urban development project shed light on the political, economic and demographic issues of contemporary Russia? Vladimir Pawlotsky questions the “authoritarian modernization” at the origin of this project, which has seen the Russian capital more than double in area.
Far from the ever more numerous warmongering diatribes he has been known for since 2022 and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, during his presidency (2008-2012) Dmitri Medvedev promoted the modernization of his

- From the Field / urban project, authoritarian regime, globalization, Moscow, metropolis, Russia

In Search of Grand Paris: Pierre Mansat on the Eve of the June 2020 Municipal Elections

Magda Maaoui & Pierre Mansat — 2020-06-26T05:00:00Z

Magda Maaoui interviews Pierre Mansat, former deputy mayor of Paris and a founding father of “le Grand Paris” (the metropolitan authority for Greater Paris), about Grand Paris and the limits of political action at the municipal level in light of the upcoming municipal elections.
Less than a week before 12 million Parisians vote in the second round of elections for their mayors and their municipal councils, which has now been delayed from March 22 to June 28 owing to the coronavirus lockdown,

- Interviews / Grand Paris, Grand Paris Express, Greater Paris, Paris region, Paris, Île-de-France, France, banlieue, suburbs, metropolitan areas, metropolitan restructuring, metropolis, territorial equality, territorial reform, governance, local governance, metropolization, coronavirus, Covid-19, public transportation, transport, mass transit, intercommunality

Megacities and how to govern them: rethinking urban development in terms of infrastructure networks

Éric Verdeil & translated by Oliver Waine — 2015-09-25T05:00:00Z

Are colossal megalopolises like Shanghai or Mumbai uncontrollable? This collective work shows that nothing could be further from the truth: by proposing an innovative interpretation, on the margins of classic approaches centred on political institutions, it underlines the importance of technical networks in city governments.
Governing Megacities in Emerging Countries (Métropoles XXL en pays émergents in the original French) is an ambitious and stimulating book that seeks to shift the terms of

- Reviews / governance, networks, metropolis, Global South, urban growth, megacities

Transport as both a function and a facilitator of metropolitan development?

Aurélien Delpirou & translated by Oliver Waine — 2015-02-12T05:50:00Z

In Paris, Lyon and Marseille, the development of public transport is a central element of the metropolitan projects currently under way. However, the challenges to be tackled and the approaches adopted differ significantly from one city to another. Here, Aurélien Delpirou compares the three situations and analyses the strengths and weaknesses of their respective strategies.
As part of the major territorial shake-up presently under way in France, a new type of intermunicipal body is set to

- Essays / Île-de-France, Grand Paris, public transportation, Paris region, governance, Marseille, Paris, transport, Lyon, metropolis, Greater Paris, mass transit, rapid transit, Rhône-Alpes

“Gentrification or ghetto”: making sense of an intellectual impasse

Anne Clerval & Mathieu Van Criekingen & translated by Oliver Waine — 2015-01-29T06:00:00Z

The debate on the causes, effects and extent of the “gentrification” of working-class neighbourhoods in the central areas of our cities has animated (and divided) the fields of geography and urban sociology for the last decade or so in France. This debate was reignited in September 2013 by the publication of a book by Anne Clerval titled Paris sans le peuple (“Paris Without the People”). In this article, Anne Clerval and Mathieu Van Criekingen reply with force to those fellow researchers and

- Debates / France, ghetto, gentrification, segregation, urban renewal, social diversity, suburbanization, periurban, metropolis, urban regeneration, metropolization, metropolitan areas, urban geography, urban sociology, depoliticization

Territorial Equality in France: A Historical Perspective

Matthew Wendeln — 2014-06-04T04:50:00Z

Once the basis of French regional planning, the goal of national balance has made a comeback in France under the banner of “territorial equality”. The postwar experience suggests that redistributive regional policies can promote growth in a period of economic turbulence.
Over the past two decades, the twin goals of competition and competitiveness have gained increasing sway in French urban and regional policies (Baudelle and Montabone 2008, p. 3). Following the Left's national victory in

- Essays / France, urban planning, decentralization, territorial development, metropolis, socio-spatial inequalities, regional planning, territorial equality, economic development, metropolitan areas, region

The sustainable metropolis: when night enlightens day

Luc Gwiazdzinski & translated by Oliver Waine — 2014-03-05T05:50:00Z

The night-time, long a neglected dimension of the city, can no longer be dismissed. Luc Gwiazdzinski invites us to explore this nocturnal realm and together imagine the contours of this particular form of metropolitan urbanity, as he believes the night has a lot to tell us about the daytime and the future more generally.
The night is a wonderful space for renewal and replenishment, for invention and new projects for our changing cities, and for their inhabitants in search points of reference.

- Essays / public space, sustainable development, innovation, territorial development, metropolis, night, urban temporalities, chronotopia

The mixed success of Toronto's metropolitan merger

Guillaume Poiret & translated by Oliver Waine — 2013-11-20T05:50:00Z

While the debate on local-government reform rages on in France, Guillaume Poiret looks back at the municipal mergers that took place in Toronto in 1997. Although amalgamation has not resulted in the kind of demergers seen in Montreal, it has not had the anticipated economic benefits either, and leaves the metropolitan question – and the attendant democratic challenges – unanswered.
Since the City of Toronto Act, or Bill 103, of 17 December 1997, the City of Toronto has comprised the former

- From the Field / governance, local governance, intercommunality, metropolis, territorial reform, Canada, Toronto

The Negotiated Urbanism of Grand Paris Express

Lara Belkind — 2013-06-12T04:55:00Z

In the fragmented context of Paris's metropolitan and regional politics, the Grand Pari(s) design consultation and subsequent public process demonstrate that the Grand Paris Express project, a major new orbital metro line, can become a form of emergent governance and negotiated planning.
Although the Grand Pari(s) design consultation can be interpreted as a strategy through which the state regained control of the metropolitan narrative, this does not signal a return to the centralized

- Debates / banlieue, Île-de-France, Grand Paris, participation, public transportation, Paris region, urban planning, governance, Paris, local governance, transport, metropolis, Greater Paris, consultation, negotiation, mass transit

Jobs and geography: can the “functional hypercentrality” of Paris be an asset for the surrounding region?

Lise Bourdeau-Lepage & Élisabeth Tovar & translated by Oliver Waine — 2013-02-20T06:33:49Z

In a context of increasing competition among global cities, is it possible that Paris's key asset is the spatial concentration of its strategic economic functions in the heart of the city? Lise Bourdeau-Lepage and Élisabeth Tovar, having observed the “functional hypercentrality” of the Paris metropolitan area, here consider the social and economic effects of public policy regarding the geographical distribution of jobs.
In the wake of the information revolution, the advent of new information

- Debates / segregation, Paris region, Paris, employment, metropolis