Agenda

In the United States and in many countries of Western Europe, various policies have been deployed to put a stop to the problems linked to concentrated poverty. During the 2000s, more and more countries, such as France and the Netherlands, have opted for urban renewal projects to change the face of the neighborhoods in the name of social diversity. If this is the spirit of the National Programme for Hexagonal Urban Renewal, other options were preferred abroad. In Germany for example, the program "Social City" intended to involve people more in projects. In the United States, the Obama administration sought to transform these areas into neighborhoods of choice and opportunities by combining multiple means - community development, social diversity through urban renewal, and residential mobility.

While in France the principle of diversity is considered by decision makers as the perfect remedy to the problems in the suburbs, it is striking to observe how researchers are critical towards this goal, especially when it is only applied to areas considered as "sensitive". The latter propose to consider these territories not as problems but as a stimulus for public action and they attract above all the attention of governments on the inhabitants' backgrounds and directions, both social and residential.

When revisiting the outlines of the French urban policy, what strategic orientations should we focus on? How to promote the equality between all territories, so much desired by the government ? What can we learn from foreign experiences?

The Centre for Strategic Analysis published several works that will be presented on this occasion:   

• Urban policy. French and international perspectives
• Indicators of urban policy: a comparison between three countries, France, Britain and the Netherlands (in collaboration with the General Secretariat of the Interministerial Committee for Cities)
• The Amercican urban policy

PROGRAM

9:00     Introduction

• Hervé Masurel, Prefect, General Secretary of the Interministerial Committee for Cities
• Vincent Chriqui, Director General of the Centre for Strategic Analysis

9:30  ROUND TABLE 1 - Policies implemented in Western European countries: Results and prospects
Chairwoman: Noémie Houard, Policy Officer, Department of Social Affairs, Centre for Strategic Analysis

• Renaud Epstein, Sociologist, lecturer in Political Science at the University of Nantes,  Associate Researcher at the Institut des Sciences sociales du Politique (École normale supérieure of Cachan, France):  comparison France / United Kingdom / The Netherlands
• Rebecca Tunstall, Centre for Housing Policy Director, University of York
• Maurice Blanc, Professor of Sociology, University of Strasbourg (France), Associate Researcher at the Marc Bloch Center (Berlin).

11:15 ROUND TABLE 2 -  Lessons from the United States: empowerment, mobility and choice, a political challenge?
Chairman: Brett Theodos, Research Associate with the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute

• Harris Beider, Professor, Institute of Community Cohesion, Coventry University
• Richard Baron, Co-founder and chairman of McCormack Baron Salazar
• Claudia Coulton , Professor of Urban Research & Social Change at Case Western Reserve University
• Agnes van Zanten, CNRS Director of Research at Sciences Po’s Observatory for Social Change: Choice Policies in the Scholar sector.

12:45 Lunch

2:00 p.m. ROUND TABLE 3 -At the time of the French discussion on the next stage of this public policy, how should we promote social and residential mobility of inhabitants?
Chairman: Anthony Briant , ONZUS, General Secretariat of the Inter-ministerial Committee on Urban Affairs

• Philippe Estèbe, Geographer and politist, professor at Sciences Po, Director of Studies at Acadie, director of the IHEDATE
• Christine Lelévrier, Professor at l’Institut d’Urbanisme de Paris.
• Maurice Charrier, Vice President of Lyon métropolis and former Mayor of Vaulx-en-Velin
• Jacques Donzelot, Sociologist

3:45 p.m. ROUND TABLE 4 - The challenges of a policy of territorial equality
Chairman: Julien Damon, Associate Professor at Sciences Po, Scientific Advisor at the Centre for Strategic Analysis

• Jean-Louis Haurie, Director of the CAF 75 (Family allowance fund in the department of Seine-Saint-Denis).
• Thomas Kirszbaum, Associate Researcher at the Institut des Sciences sociales du Politique (École normale supérieure of Cachan, France)
• Patrick Simon, Socio-demographer at the French National Institute for Demographic Studies (INED),  Associate researcher at Sciences Po's Centre d'Etudes Européennes.
• Jean-Philippe Brouant, Lecturer in Law, Sorbonne Law Scool (Paris 1), SERDEAUT

5:15 p.m. Key lessons
Susan Popkin, Director of the Urban Institute's Program on Neighborhoods and Youth Development and Senior Fellow in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center

5:30 p.m. Conclusion

Registrations for this event are now closed

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