Regional planning in France: theory and practice

Regional planning in France has been in existence for thirty years. From 1947 to 1962 new ground was broken by some pioneers — the ideologists of "equilibrium" or "harmony" and new "Girondists" of decentralisation. Between 1963 and 1973, the decade of the technocrats, as planning became institutionalised, concentration of the means of production and decision in the hands of large firms and of the State apparatus imposed the pursuit of economic efficiency while contributing to widening the gap between planning realities and the planners' discourse. From about 1973 onwards, with previous dogmas being increasingly called into question, the new discourse on "ecology" and the "lived experience", the crisis of management and the management of the crisis have all forced planners to enter a new territory — that of uncertainty.Frémont Armand. Regional planning in France: theory and practice. In: Espace géographique. Espaces, modes d'emploi. Two decades of l'Espace géographique, an anthology. Special issue in English. 1993. pp. 33-46