Mobility, Transport and Public Policy: Order and Disorder in French-Style Decentralisation

“Decentralisation in question(s)” Seminar series

Second meeting

Mobility, Transport and Public Policy: Order and Disorder in French-Style Decentralisation
 

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The second meeting in the "Decentralisation in question(s)" series of seminars will be devoted to exchanges between students, professionals, and researchers on territorial issues and decentralisation in France from the point of view of coordination problems in mobility and public transport policies. The series of seminars is sponsored by the French Senate under the patronage of Gérard Larcher, President of the Senate.

Initially conceived as a "French garden", decentralisation has turned out, after more than 40 years of existence, to be an "English garden" in which the tangle of competences and the weakness of coordination mechanisms now constitute considerable challenges, particularly in the context of adapting public policies to climate change. The case of mobility and transport policies is a perfect illustration of this post-Jacobin management, where each territorial level of government (inter-municipalities, départements, regions, the State) holds bits and pieces of responsibility, without any concerted and coordinated co-management of the issues really appearing to be stabilising. This is a far cry from the inter-territoriality that is often claimed, despite recent legislative changes.  So, what conclusions can be drawn from the decentralisation of mobility and transport policies? What changes are underway? What do they tell us about the evolution of centre/periphery relations in France in the face of the temptation to recentralise policy for climate adaptation and mitigation?
 

Meeting Programme 

Introduction by Eric Kerrouche (CEVIPOF, Senate, Vice-Chairman of the Delegation for Local Authorities and Decentralisation), 

• Speeches by :
  Jean-Marc Offner (École Urbaine de Sciences Po) - Innovation in Search of Governance, between Competences without Skills and Domains without Skills
• Angèle Le Prigent (University of Rennes, Arènes, associated with the TMAP Chair) - Roads at Several Speeds: The Differentiated Decentralisation of the Not Under Concession National Road Network
• Jean Coldefy (Director of the Mobility and Transitions Programme ATEC ITS France, Chairman of the Scientific Council of France Mobilités / Ministry of Transport) - How Does the Equation of Carbon, Equity and Efficiency Challenge Territorial Governance?

Moderated by Cyprien Sorel (Sciences Po Urba)

Opening of the discussion by Romain Pasquier (Chair in ‘Territories and Changes in Public Action’, Sciences Po Rennes, CNRS, Arènes) and Nicolas Portier (Sciences Po Urban School).

Wednesday, 8 November, from 5 pm to 7 pm, 
Simone Veil Amphithéâtre, 
28 rue des Saints-Pères, 75007 Paris