Dominique Joye

La métropole et le politique : identité, services urbains et citoyenneté dans quatre agglomérations en Suisse

Agglomerations in Switzerland are characterised by a high degree of institutional fragmentation. The political and scientific debate on centrality-charges and disparities between suburban communes has intensified in recent years. But little is kown of the consequences of institutional fragmentation for the population living in urban areas. This article presents the results of a survey on 2000 individuals living in the four agglomerations of Zurich, Lausanne, Lucerne and Lugano. The analysis shows that agglomerations have also become an element of identity and community for their inhabitants. Institutional fragmentation has led to a “democratic deficit;” urban services are mainly delivered by opaque and unaccountable intercommunal bodies. Citizens do not perceive the relationship between local authorities and the management of urban services. If this link is to be strengthened, reforms of the political institutions within agglomerations may be necessary. Support for such initiatives is currently very low. ...

The emergence of the ‘Lemanique metropole’: a process of apprenticeship

Abstract How can a fruitful public discussion on the metropolitan question be organized in the context of strong local resistance against the whole idea? Based on the example of the ‘Lemanique metropole’, this article shows the inherent difficulties of such a debate, especially when the polycentric metropolitan structure is segmented by three kinds of institutional divisions: communal, cantonal and national. It seems that the local authorities of the three agglomerations affected by the metropolitan phenomenon (Geneva, Lausanne and Vevey/Montreux), do not reason or take into account the Lemanique metropolis as a whole. Only in the mass media and among experts has a sudden awareness of the interdependence of these agglomerations been shown. The debate has so far been structured around three false dichotomies: established fact and project, metropolis and conviviality, metropolis and region. The difficulty of thinking about and expressing the real issues at stake in the metropolitan debate (democracy, citizenship, segregation and disparities) underlines the novelty of the problem in the Swiss context and the strengths of local resistance.