Vincent Béal

Urban governance, sustainability and environmental movements: post-democracy in French and British cities

Drawing on an empirical study of environmental policies in Manchester (UK) and Saint-Etienne (France), this article attempts to provide a periodization of the evolution of the management of urban environmental issues. The periodization traces the shift in discourse from a focus on ‘local environment’ to ‘sustainable urban development’. Three main sequences are identified corresponding to three different ways of tackling environmental issues covering a period from the late 1970s up to the present. The aim of this article is twofold. First, it will use environmental policies as a tool to understand the transformations of urban governance, and in particular the transformations of the actors involved in policy-making. Second, it will show how sustainable development policies are used by local elites to neutralize urban conflicts by excluding environmental grassroots movements from the management of environmental issues. Finally, the article will discuss how this marginalization should be considered as a sign of the emergence of a post-democratic era.

When Mayors Go Global: International Strategies, Urban Governance and Leadership

An enigma lies at the heart of this article. In December 2006, the mayor of Saint-Etienne,Michel Thiolliere, was elected as the fifth best mayor in the world by the internet site CityMayors. Yet no publicity was made locally around this award. Taking this anecdote asa starting point, this article deals with the motivations that can lead a city mayorto become involved in urban international relationships’ policy (city twinning,participation in cities networks, study trips, etc.). On the one hand these activitiesprovide resources for building up political legitimacy and for electoral control, and onthe other they provide resources for policy solutions to urban problems in the publicrealm. Nevertheless, in a context of transformation of the process of legitimization ofurban elected officials, the second kind of resources seems to be the most sought after inmayoral involvement in international activities.

From the Governance of Sustainability to the Management of Climate Change: Reshaping Urban Policies and Central–local Relations in France

Abstract This paper analyses the interlinked usages of the concepts of ‘governance’ and ‘sustainable development’ over the past two decades of French urban policies. It shows that the importance of ‘sustainable development’ procedural principles has significantly declined in public agendas alongside the rise to prominence of climate change issues. Based on a study of the urban policies developed by central French government authorities since the 1990s, it identifies two main phases. In the 1990s and early 2000s, ‘sustainable development’ and ‘governance’ slogans were extensively mobilized in urban policies for the purposes of modernizing public action. In a context of economic, social and institutional transformations, these urban policies aimed at constructing local dynamics of collective action and encouraged the emergence of projects relying on incremental and deliberative practices. As of the mid-2000s, this dynamic weakened and climate change replaced sustainable development as a reference in urban policies. This shift occurred in the context of a neo-managerial restructuring, with central government authorities regaining influence over cities and urban policies being redefined around quantitative and technical objectives.

Selective public policies: sustainability and neoliberal urban restructuring

This article deals with the transformation of urban environmental policies since the emergence of the concept of urban sustainability. It explores how the discursive frame of “sustainability” has favoured a hybrid neoliberalization of urban environmental policies in Manchester (UK) and Nantes (France). First, the paper describes the rise of entrepreneurial framing of the environment in the 1990s and 2000s. Second, it shows – with the example of eco-neighbourhood projects – how this new way of dealing with the environment led to specific and selective urban policies going hand in hand with the neoliberal restructuring of European cities. Third, it questions whether the notion of neoliberalization could be used to understand contemporary urban environmental strategies. It concludes by highlighting the heuristic potential of this notion when it goes along with careful case studies sensitive to contextual issues.

Greenest cities? The (post-)politics of new urban environmental regimes:

Urban areas are increasingly recognized as strategic sites to address climate change and environmental issues. Specific urban projects are marketed as innovative solutions and best-practice examples, and so-called green cities, eco-cities and sustainable cities have emerged worldwide as leading paradigms in urban planning and policy discourse. The transformation of cities into eco-cities (Kenworthy, 2006; Roseland, 1997) is often based on big data and – widely varying – indicators that should proof the success of urban climate governance (Bulkeley, 2010). The European Commission with its ‘Green Capital’ program, Britain’s ‘Sustainable City Index’, France’s ‘EcoCité’ scheme, the US-American’s ‘Greenest City’ ranking developed by WalletHub’s, the US and Canada ‘Green City Index’ sponsored by Siemens – these programs are all examples of public and private initiatives aimed at identifying and ranking the ‘greenest’ city or cities according to a competitive rationality. They are mostly quantitative approaches, based on ‘hard’ and ‘scientific’ indicators that allow cities to be compared according to their efforts in sustainable urban development. Using these indicators, cities worldwide have increasingly promoted sustainability initiatives in order to position themselves advantageously on the global scene (Chang and Sheppard, 2013; Cugurullo, 2013; Swyngedouw and Kaika, 2014; While et al., 2004). These urban ranking efforts tie into the fact that sustainability has become a metaconsensual policy term (Gill et al., 2012), resting upon broad support from diverse sectors of society. Promoted at first as a way of bringing forward an ecological urban agenda connected to social development, sustainability has lost much of its transformative potential. By now, even car manufacturing in Germany, oil pipelines in Alberta, Canada and nuclear power plants worldwide are being politically justified with reference to sustainability and climate change prevention. Despite controversial national positions regarding the processes, pace and extend of implementing environmental policies – a divergence that became very evident, for example, during the 2009 United Nations

Varieties of right-sizing strategies: comparing degrowth coalitions in French shrinking cities

ABSTRACT This article attempts to understand the varieties of “rightsizing” strategies in French shrinking cities. Empirically, the article examines the issue of “rightsizing” in France. It reveals that urban shrinkage is still considered as a minor issue nationally, and that “rightsizing” ideas have not gained momentum on urban agendas or within the planning community. Despite this lack of interest, local strategies aimed at adapting the built environment to a reduced population have been “silently” implemented in France’s shrinking cities, over the last 15 years. The article focuses on the strategies elaborated in two cities: Saint-Etienne and Vitry-le-François. These strategies are both emblematic of an acceptation of population decline and of a will to reduce the housing stock. However, these two strategies rely on different actors and rationalities: the first is based on a selective understanding of “rightsizing” which aims at replacing deprived social groups by a long-awaited middle-class; the second is fueled by the worsening financial situation of the main social housing landlords. By pinpointing the factors that explain varieties of “rightsizing” strategies, the article calls for a more careful use of the notion of austerity urbanism, based on case studies which are sensitive to contextual issues.

Networked cities and steering states: Urban policy circulations and the reshaping of State–cities relationships in France:

This article focuses on the circulation of urban policy “models” and its influence on the reshaping of relationships between State and cities in France. It suggests that the increasing mobility of practices and knowledge between cities cannot be explained solely by the intensification of horizontal exchanges involving city halls throughout Europe. It also relies on the restructuring of the State and the transformation of its intervention in urban policymaking processes. By considering the Programme National de Rénovation Urbaine and the Plan Ville Durable, the article highlights the emergence of a new model of State–cities relationships characterized by the tracking of local “exemplary” initiatives, and by their certification and diffusion by the central State itself. This new model of relationships allows the State to strengthen its capacity to steer urban policies at a distance, without actually challenging the rise in power of French cities.