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Remapping and merging the Regions with one another, redefining the role of the departments, promoting the grouping of municipalities, creating metropolitan areas, reducing the local authorities' expenditure, improving citizen proximity and involving them in the decision-making process in a more effective way: these were the expectations of the NOTR...
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... this question of citizenship, which is therefore central, been forgotten during the 2014-2017 territorial laws in favour of a search for the "big is beautiful" concept and an ever-increasing distance from the decision-making and power centres? We try to assess these various dimensions in Table 3. www.sebastienbourdin.com ...Citations
... The clustering is intended to continue in the coming years: it enables organizations to reach a sufficient size for resources to be dedicated to the management of the system. More information regarding this law can be found in Torre and Bourdin (2023). ...
Asset management issues are and will always be key concerns for many stakeholders in the water sector. Despite this, there is still a lack of awareness and clear guidance on the topic. There has been some focus on the management of drainage pipes, but more effort needs to be dedicated to examining the various regulations, practices, and research within this discipline. It's paramount to consider the long-term management of urban drainage assets, given the role they play in ensuring the wellbeing of our communities.
Asset Management of Urban Drainage Systems is the first comprehensive handbook that deals with the asset management of infrastructure dedicated to both sewage and stormwater, including blue-green infrastructure. It gives an insight into the theoretical background of asset management itself and showcases regulations and legislation influencing it. The methods used to investigate the condition of assets, and how they can be modelled and represented while accounting for the associated limitations, are also presented. The book describes how the discipline can move from a purely condition-based approach to a service-based one using risk-management strategies, seen in the broader context of decision-making. Data management and techniques for the rehabilitation of urban drainage assets are also explored.
From technicians who want to know more about the tools and methods, to researchers and students who want a broad overview, to professionals who are tasked with developing short, medium, and long-term asset management strategies, this book provides important content for a wide audience.
ISBN: 9781789063042 (paperback)
ISBN: 9781789063059 (eBook)
ISBN: 9781789063066 (ePub)
... We propose the provision of subsidies or tax incentives targeted specifically towards CSs in rural or peri-urban areas. Moreover, given the constraints on budgetary allocation faced by local authorities (Torre and Bourdin, 2022), we recommend prioritizing regions that, based on our analysis, stand to benefit the most from the implementation of CSs, particularly those with high rates of long-term unemployment. This approach would facilitate potential economic revitalization and foster innovation. ...
... In the context of France's progressive power shift from central to local authorities, combined with tight budgetary constraints that create winners and losers among territories (Bourdin and Torre, 2021), it becomes crucial to provide adequate financial resources to more remote areas in order to reduce the spatial digital gap among regions. Without such support, the long-term viability of the assistance provided for the establishment and operation of CSs could be subject to scrutiny, especially in areas where the government's presence is diminishing (Torre and Bourdin, 2022). Second, the devolution of CSs in rural areas presents an opportunity to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in these regions. ...
This study investigates the potential devolution of coworking spaces (CSs) to rural areas during the COVID-19 pandemic and explores the factors driving this shift. Using a geolocalised database of French CSs and employing spatial durbin model, we found that the pandemic may have driven CS distribution towards less densely populated regions. Our study highlights the impact of the pandemic on economic landscapes and spatial patterns of shared workspaces, with implications for place-based policies and regional development. The results suggest that supporting CSs in remote areas with longer commuting times and distances can address the urban-rural divide, fostering territorial resilience in the post-pandemic era.
... Так, особенности французской модели отношений «центр -регионы» описаны в работах К. И. Пахорукова и И. В. Иванникова, Г. В. Семеко, И. Н. Трофимовой, А. Торре и С. Бурдена. Авторы обращают внимание на изменения, которые повлекли за собой проводимые Ш. де Голлем, Н. Саркози, Ф. Олландом административно-территориальные реформы: создание единой структуры «регион -департаменты», расширение хозяйственной и финансовой самостоятельности местных органов власти, повышение эффективности системы государственного управления и т. д. [Пахоруков и др., 2012;Семеко, 2017a;Трофимова, 2011;Torre et al., 2023]. Однако, как справедливо отмечают данные исследователи, со временем процесс децентрализации власти во Франции сменился курсом на рецентрализацию управления, что обусловлено распределением партийно-политических сил в результате президентских и парламентских выборов, практической эффективностью реформ и сложностью самой системы территориального управления во Франции в принципе. ...
This article explores the formation and development of transregional relations of territorial communities of France with Eastern countries and regions. It examines the interplay of centrifugal and centripetal tendencies in the “center-regions” relationship of the French Republic. The analysis focuses on the normative framework of international and foreign policy activities of French territorial communities based on national constitution and legislation. Traditional close ties of French regions with partners from European countries are discussed, with a special emphasis on collaborations with countries in Eastern and Southern Mediterranean, as well as North Africa. Partnership with distant Eastern territories is separately examined. The study is based on a comprehensive methodology incorporating principles of historicism, objectivity, comprehensiveness, historical-systemic and historical-comparative approaches, as well as theoretical foundations of multilevel governance theory. It includes an examination of the activities of various administrative units in France: regions, departments, municipalities, cities, and metropolises. The conclusion drawn is that the international activities of French regions are currently less active than those of regions in other European Union countries; however, in the 21st century, they have significantly intensified compared to previous periods.
... First, the economic resources of a local authority will necessarily influence the policies that are implemented (Oulasvirta & Turala, 2009). In many countries, the financial autonomy of local authorities is precarious and, following the example of France, Torre and Bourdin (2022) explained that the decentralisation policy in many European countries has not always been accompanied by the financial resources that go with it. As a result, the ability of regional and subregional authorities to implement PBPs may be called into question or, at least, limited. ...
This paper explores how elected politicians' decisions impact place-based policies (PBPs) and the resulting consequences. It emphasises that understanding the political factors influencing PBPs offers insights into their effectiveness and potential pitfalls. The article draws upon the behavioural political economy theory, suggesting that political decisions often deviate from the purely rational due to cognitive biases and social influences. It examines the critical role of territorial intermediation, explores the potential discord between policy designs and ground realities, and investigates how broader political dynamics shape these trajectories. Additionally, the article probes the obstacles, including psychological, institutional and contextual factors, that may hinder policy implementation. In conclusion, the article proposes new avenues of research in regional, urban and planning studies that highlight the complexity of the political processes influencing these policies and calls for a multidimensional analysis of these processes.
... Mergers of the smaller jurisdictions also aimed at tackling the country's budget deficit, as dispendious counties often had to be bailed out by the central government (unlike the US, cities cannot go bankrupt in France). In theory, the regrouping of smaller cities was to increase the proximity of services and restore fiscal discipline by increasing their bargaining power (Torre & Bourdin, 2023), even at the risk of antagonizing the population. ...
France’s adoption of corporate management strategies for its public services, its decision to consolidate health care agencies and to delegate decision-making power to high-level bureaucrats and Regional Health Agencies was influenced by several factors. These include the political context, characterized by a reduction in public expenditures by governments worldwide. Additionally, the European integration and the adoption of austerity measures following the 2008 financial crisis played a significant role in shaping these policy changes. The emphasis was also on private sector entities, and the re-centralization of decision-making in health affairs. Nevertheless, outcomes did not meet expectations, which led to a negative assessment of New Public Management (NPM) in the healthcare sector and other public areas that experienced similar reforms.
... As a member of the European Union, France has an obligation to actively support and protect the state's laws and rights. The safety of civil and political rights and liberties, as well as the equality and dignity of all individuals, are all protected by the rule of law, as upheld by an independent court (Conrad, 2023;McGaughey et at., 2022;Torre & Bourdin, 2022). ...
... As a result, there are some parallels and some differences between their governments' organizational systems. Similar to France, the president of the United States is elected to a four-year term as the head of the executive arm of the government (Crema & Solum, 2022;Torre & Bourdin, 2022;Auer, 2022). ...
p> Even when all other safeguards fail, a judiciary of unquestionable integrity is the cornerstone institution necessary for guaranteeing adherence to democracy and the rule of law. It protects the public from any violations of their legal rights and freedoms. This observation applies to both global analyses of the judicial system and rule of law process in America and France, in particular. The judiciary and legal adjudication process were viewed and examined as a great bastion of the rule of law throughout the United States of America and France as one of the great countries that are characterized as mature democracies in this paper, which relied on the qualitative method of data collection. </p
... Countries around the world are witnessing a 'rise to the meso' (Keating, 2014, p. 104), or city-county consolidation (Deng et al., 2021;Martin & Schiff, 2011). This trend maintains that cities and regions are on the rise, while intermediate tiers such as provinces are under threat (Torre & Bourdin, 2022). While cities can cope with this trend, rural villages are becoming more distant from the regional layer. ...
... While cities can cope with this trend, rural villages are becoming more distant from the regional layer. Therefore, they need a tier of government that is closer to them (Torre & Bourdin, 2022). Deng et al. (2021) report that the expansion of cities at the expense of rural areas has resulted in a significant loss of economic activities in nearby rural areas, but has had an insignificant effect at the prefecture level, indicating a backwash effect. ...
The fiscal decentralization literature explores the efficient structure of local governments. However, little consideration has been given to the efficient structure of rural local governments. In this study we show that a dual-tier local government structure in rural areas is more efficient than the prevalent unitary structure. Specifically, we demonstrate that a regional council that incorporates many small villages is more efficient than when each village operates as an independent local government. We present a theoretical model and provide a simulation of the model using Israeli municipal data, which combines both unitary and dual-tier structures. The simulation uses the unitary small towns as the training set and the villages within regional councils as the test set. It thus calculates the cost structure of villages within regional councils based on the data of unitary small towns. The results indicate that most villages that are part of a regional council operate more efficiently than their simulated independent unitary counterparts. Based on the findings, we suggest an alternative lower level local government structure for rural communities that adds a mezzanine dual-tier structure.
... However, it is also fair to say that spatial development within rural France is, as elsewhere, highly localised, and the above generalisation could be judged to be simplistic. Aspects of the current discussion on the role of different administrative levels in a context of ongoing discourse on regionalisation (and localisation) are therefore crucial [91]. It is too early to assess whether the ambitions expressed in the mission document and the Rural Agenda will have an impact on local people's perspectives, raising their level of ambition, or triggering a process of activation. ...
The European Commission’s Long-term Vision for Rural Areas, published in June 2021 and building on a previous report on the Impact of Demographic Change and a Green Paper on Ageing, underlines the importance of population trends as a key issue for EU rural policy. The increasing concern about demographic issues, especially in rural Europe, has been accompanied, and in some cases preceded, by the publication of national population strategies. This renewed interest within the European policy community probably has roots in politics rather than new research or fresh evidence. Rural depopulation is not a new phenomenon, nor is it a new research topic. Nevertheless, to better understand this renewed interest, it is instructive to review recent scholarship and consider whether there is any evidence that the processes and systems of rural and regional (demographic) development are delivering new kinds of challenges, requiring refreshed policy approaches. Having established this context, we present a comparative review of a selection of national strategies, identifying shifting perspectives on goals, the instruments proposed, and implied intervention logics. Arguably, cumulative evidence points to an incremental shift of the policy discourse away from neoliberal, Lisbon-inspired visions of rural competitiveness and cost-effectiveness and towards a quest for rural well-being, rights to basic services, and more (spatially) inclusive rural development. This increasing emphasis on qualitative change may be symptomatic of a wider shift in the zeitgeist of rural policy, reflecting a number of globalised trends, including an awareness of the potentials and limitations associated with changing patterns of inter and intra-regional mobility.
... The case of France is particularly interesting from this point of view (Torre, Bourdin 2021). In 2018, the country was shaken by a large-scale protest movement well known as the 'yellow vests' movement (related to the name of the garment the protestors were wearing). ...
... Step by step, fundamental questions were raised about public policies related to peripheral areas in a context of falling public spending and growing inequality, with signi cant territorial repercussions (Bourdin, Torre 2020;Torre, Bourdin 2021). This movement can be seen as the behavior of disenchantment; the participants had no con dence in politics or were no longer part of the 'political o er' (Kostelka 2017). ...
Many European countries have implemented development policies for regions and territories in order to contribute to their growth and reduce inequalities. The EU has developed policies for cohesion and smart development which aim to promote the growth of all territories and reduce the gaps between them. The implementation of those policies raises questions about the place of and role of peripheral areas in terms of development. Will they remain under-developed regions, lagging behind? Or are they able to participate in overall development processes? The topic of our paper is an exploration of smart development for peripheral areas, and more especially, rural areas, in Europe. The question arises as to whether these areas are, despite their handicaps, capable of meeting the challenges of development, and most of all of satisfying the conditions for a smart development process. In order to address the question of the development potential of peripheral areas, we start by presenting the European policies of cohesion and smart development, before highlighting the limits of their acceptance by local people. We then show that there are other types of territorial innovations than those identified in the most well-known policies, and finally we propose development strategies for a particular type of peripheral area: rural territories. We found that even while the development policies devoted to these territories have multiplied over the last thirty years, the inhabitants of peripheral areas very often feel dissatisfied with their situation and express their opposition through extreme votes or public demonstration. One of the major reasons for this growing gap between the proliferation of EU policies and the dissatisfaction of the population is that innovations and novelties coming from these areas are rarely considered and encouraged by the current policies. The latter attach too great an importance to technological dimensions and are mainly directed towards industrialized and densely populated areas, whereas innovations stemming from peripheral territories, which are very real, are concentrated primarily in the social, institutional, and organizational fields. In the end, many policies are disconnected from the needs, the will, and the skills of local populations in peripheral areas. In order to avoid these problems and to reduce the obstacles on the development paths of peripheral areas we advocate policies that are better adapted to these territories and which seriously consider their innovative character. The case of rural areas in Europe provides interesting insights because it shows that a mix of ‘traditional’ and more social and institutional policies is possible, and that various mixes can be adapted to the peculiarities of these regions; from peri-urban areas to remote agricultural or forested lands. In any case, it is important to stress that the measures that are applied must be adapted to the respective characteristics of the different categories of territory and not be based on a catalogue adaptable to any type of peripheral areas. It is at this price that we may avoid the disjunction between the different territories of the EU and the appearance of zones of separatism, or even the dislocation of the European community.
... The NOTre Act (2015) has contributed to clarify the allocation of competencies among the three tiers. On this issue, see Torre and Bourdin (2022). 15 CC (resp. ...
The analysis of French municipalities’ public personnel expenditures allows us to study the issue of the size of the local public sector. We concentrate on two paths that French authorities have followed to limit it, i.e., the promotion of inter-municipal cooperation (IMC) and the cut in grants received by municipalities. Our objective is to evaluate their respective role in the evolution of public personnel expenditures at the municipal level, in a context where local politics comes into play. We consider a large panel dataset of municipalities embedded in IMC structures between 2011 and 2018. Our main results, obtained using an original identification strategy, are threefold. We first find evidence that a substitution effect between municipal and IMC personnel expenditures is at work. Second, we find a partisan distorsion through the grant allocation: despite its formula-based definition, aligned and unaligned municipalities are treated differently by the central government. Third, we show that cuts in grants lead to cuts in municipalities’ public wage bills, while partisanship hinders such cuts.
