Les politiques urbaines en France et en Grande-Bretagne : éléments pour une approche comparative

Immediately after the Second World War, both in Britain and France urban policy was largely concerned with the problem of replacing or renewing physical infrastructure. It was Britain, faced with the scale of problems in its inner cities, that first began to take account of the social dimension of urban development. From the end of the 1960s, urban policy was based on a combination of social intervention and urban regeneration. In France, it was only rather later, from the second half of the 1970s, that the question of social development began to take priority. From the beginning of the 1980s, the mounting problems of the inner cities and the peripheral estates resulted increasingly in the disaffection of the young in both countries (urban riots). In France, this led to the adoption of the policy for cities, responsibilty for which would be shared between central and local government and based upon a contractual procedure (e.g. the contrat de ville ). Britain, on the other hand introduced procedures that were based on the con¬ cepts of competition between towns (City Challenge and S.R.B. Challenge Fund) and of partnership between the public and private sectors. However, the actual measures available for taking action differ little on either side of the Channel, and similarities are more striking than the differences.L'approche comparative entre les deux pays permet de cerner les fondements de la politique urbaine. Au-delà des différences institutionnelles, les convergences dans les problématiques urbaines l'emportent sur les divergences. Il est vrai que l'on retrouve les mêmes leviers pour l'action de part et d'autre de la Manche.Booth Philipp, Green Howard, Paris Didier. Les politiques urbaines en France et en Grande-Bretagne : éléments pour une approche comparative. In: Hommes et Terres du Nord, 1997/1. Les politiques urbaines en France et au Royaume-Uni. pp. 2-10