An incentive action initiated by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs Priority Solidarity Fund (Fonds de Solidarité prioritaire Ministère des Affaires étrangères), and managed by GEMDEV and ISTED (2001-2004).
This concerted incentive action, initiated and financed by the Priority Solidarity Fund of the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs, marks an important change both in the nature of scientific output in relation to urban issues and knowledge about common practices in this area.
Thirty research teams which brought together two hundred and sixty researchers - half of them drawn from Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Caribbean and half from countries of the North (Canada, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and France) worked between 2001 and 2004.
The results were presented at UNESCO in May 2004 in the presence of representatives from the World Bank, UNESCO, the Agency for the French-speaking World, the French Development Agency, the French Ministries for Research, Public Works and Foreign Affairs and many representatives from the countries of the South (see the following French language publication: Gouverner les villes du Sud. Défis pour la recherche et pour l’action. Actes du colloque international du PRUD – Unesco 5-7 mai 2004, ministère des Affaires étrangères).
This multidisciplinary research has helped improve our understanding of the cities of the South, developing approaches which are specifically designed for each area, conducting detailed analyses of urban projects and the interplay of actors, placing urban dynamics and urban government issues within the complexity which characterizes the beginning of the XXIst century.
Urban spaces are affected by local political interactions - involving the public and private sectors and formal and informal systems - and are at the same time subjected to the effects of the external forces of globalization (the arrival on the scene of major service operators and international investors). Urban areas are present-day realities which will require long-term government. It will be necessary to cope with the numerous issues that arise from the changes in land ownership and the reorganization of systems of actors which result from population dynamics and the growth of cities.
In some places centres of economic attraction are created, in others development corridors are set up. Other regions are affected by war or crisis and require innovation with regard to basic urban services or the conservation of their historical heritage.
However, most of the experiments and projects studied in the framework of this programme (PRUD) are affected by two movements: first a dynamic process of decentralisation, which involves redefining the State’s relationship with local authorities in the areas of economic and politico-administrative management, and second a desire for greater participation in urban political decision-making.
The findings of this research reveal the organizational diversity and varied activities of civil society. They also highlight the profound changes that are affecting urban areas which are becoming fragmented and whose cohesion is under threat. Lastly they expose the changes in systems of representation and the issue of the collective interest which raises questions for the legitimacy of local government.
Cultures and urbanistic areas in southern Mediterranean
Taoufik Souami, Institut Français d'Urbanisme (IFU), Université Paris VIII, France
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Cities: laboratories of democracy ?
Michèle Leclerc-Olive, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Centre d'Etudes des Mouvements Sociaux (CEMS), France
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Continuities and discontinuities of forms and legitimation of power in the city and their impact on urban development
Odile Goerg, Sociétés en Développement dans l'Espace et dans le Temps (SEDET), Université Paris VII, France
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Cities at war, wars in cities
François Grünewald, Urgence-Réhabilitation-Développement (URD), France
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Emergence of local actors in the democratic and professional field; a new situation for mediation and expertise ?
Aziz Iraki, Institut National d'Aménagement et d'Urbanisme (INAU), Maroc ; Michèle Jolé, Institut Français d'Urbanisme de Paris (IUP), France
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Local and foreign expertise in urban infrastructure
Eric Baye, Economie et Humanisme, France; Jean-Michel Cusset, Laboratoire d'Economie des Transports, Lyon, France
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The role of civil society in urban environmental management
René Parenteau, Institut d'urbanisme, Université de Montréal, Canada ; Nguyen Quoc Thong, Université d'architecture de Hanoi, Vietnam
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Innovation and changing urban fields: assessing municipal action in inner city Johannesburg
Abou Maliq Simone, Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research, République Sud-Africaine
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Markets: Transaction spaces and urban development centres
Faranirina Rajaonah, Sociétés en Développement dans l'Espace et dans le Temps (SEDET), Université Paris VII, France
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Emergence of new local actors and recomposition of urban areas: appropriation of centrality in cities of Senegal by the Moodu Moodu
Cheickh Sarr, Université Gaston Berger, Saint-Louis; Amadou Diop, Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Sénégal
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Road projects and urban recompositions in Vientiane and Hanoi
Karine Peyronnie, Institut de Recheche pour le Développement (IRD), France; Nathalie Lancret, Institut Parisien de Recherche en Architecture, Urbanisme et Sociétés (IPRAUS), Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France
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Intra-urban mobility in Hô Chi Minh-City and Hanoi
Patrick Gubry, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), France
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Hanoi, between a dual form of urban planning and an urban planning dialogue: forms of oppositions and conciliation among urban actors
Christian Pédelahore, Ecole d'architecture de Paris-Belleville, Institut Parisien de Recherche en Architecture, Urbanisme et Sociétés (IPRAUS), France
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Urbanization of refugee camps in the Gaza strip and the West Bank
Hélène Seren, Palestinian Diaspora and Refugee Center (SHAML), Palestine
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From town planning to urban development projects
Touna Mama, Groupe de Recherche et Economie Pure et Appliquée (GREPA), Université de Yaoundé II, Cameroun
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The emergence of composite management around urban services: comparisons between experiences in Abidjan, Dakar and Durban
Sylvie Bredeloup, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Laboratoire Population Environnement Développement (LPED), Université de Marseille, France
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Between institutional policies and social dynamics
Françoise Navez-Bouchanine, Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université de Tours, France
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National transitions, urban governance and drinking water management
Claude de Miras, Institut de Recheche pour le Développement (IRD); Université de Marseille, France
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Transport networks and urban services in the Maghreb: the case of Casablanca and Tunis
Chantal Chanson-Jabeur, Sociétés en Développement dans l'Espace et dans le Temps (SEDET), Université Paris VII, France
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Assessment of official development aid projects Hô Chi Minh City and Hanoi
Duc Nhuan Nguyen, Sociétés en Développement dans l'Espace et dans le Temps (SEDET), Université Paris VII, France; Laurence Nguyen, Laboratoire Théories des Mutations Urbaines (LTMU), Université Paris VIII, France
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Metropolization and sustainable development, the issues at stake in forced rehousing in slum areas of Hô Chi Minh City
Sébastien Wust, Laboratoire de Sociologie Urbaine (LASUR), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Suisse
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A sociological analysis of rehabilitation operations in the historic centers of Hebron and Bethlehem
Monique Hirschhorn, Université Paris V
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The new urban custom: comparative development of customary urban land management procedures
Alain Durand-Lasserve, Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Sociétés en Développement dans l'Espace et dans le Temps (SEDET), Université Paris VII, France
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Municipalities in the local political field: effects of exported decentralization models on the management of cities
Emile Le Bris, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), France
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Decentralization and urban governance in Sub-Saharan Africa
Alain Dubresson, Géotropiques, Université Paris X Nanterre, France
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"Civil society uncivilities". Urban public space, civil society and municipal governance in Bobo-Dioulasso and Bamako
Jacky Bouju, Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l'Homme (MMSH), Université d'Aix-en-Provence, France
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Factors of successful community initiatives at the "barrio" level
Kosta Mathéy, Trialog, Université de Darmstadt, Allemagne
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Urban services related to the environment between globalization and participation: a comparative approach
Jean-Louis Coll, Jean-Jacques Guibbert, Université de Toulouse Le Mirail, France
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Actor's strategies, urban dynamics and territorial structuring
Denis Requier-Desjardins, Centre d'Economie et d'Ethique pour l'Environnement et le Développement (C3ED), Université de Versailles - St Quentin en Yvelines, France
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Management of urban services: institutional bulding, process and regulation method
Marlène Ghorayeb, Laboratoire Théories des Mutations Urbaines (LTMU), Institut Français d'Urbanisme (IFU); Jean-Pierre Troche, Ville et Habitat, France
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