De la gouvernance à la gouvernance territoriale : enjeu de l’européanisation de l’aménagement du territoire. Réflexions à partir d’une recherche dans le cadre de l’Observatoire en réseau de l’aménagement du territoire européen (ORATE)

This article is based on an experimental participation in one of the researches conducted by the European Spatial Planning Observatory Network (ESPON) program on the governance of territorial and urban policies from the European Union level to the local level. The authors intend to demonstrate the prescriptive nature of the use of the concept of governance within the research program. They conclude that the issue of mobilizing this concept lies in the political willingness of europeanization of spatial planning. However, the results of the research, because of the normative use of governance, raise questions about the nature of the obtained results. Consequently, the authors make a proposal on what could be a good use of governance as a conceptual tool balancing scientific objectivity and political objective of europeanization of spatial planning via the use of governance in its territorial declension