Les villes nouvelles de la région parisienne. Du projet politique à la réalisation. 1963-1977
Authors: Alduy Jean-Paul 
Published: October 2016

The «New Towns » experience. A tentative reply to J.-P. Alduy. (J.-E. Roul-lier, p. 79-104)

«Few equally ambitious urbanistic projects have been conceived, adopted, planned and carried out so rapidly as have the New Towns. »

J.-E. Roullier quotes this remark of J.-P. Alduy and makes of it the central question to which an answer must be found in order to grasp the dynamism of the New Towns. After criticizing J.-P. Alduy' s thesis (the New Towns as a «beacon» project of the technology), J.-E. Roullier puts forward three sets of explanatory hypotheses that call for examination, verification and comparative research : a widespread consensus on the aims ; the existence of the Paris region district with its own budget and resources, a unique insitution in France ; lastly , a decentralized system for the creation of the New Towns giving full responsibility to all the parties concerned, especially the elected officials and Government representatives — a non-technocratic arrangement compared with other Western experiences of the same type. Aside from these considerations, the former high-ranking official of the Groupe central des villes nouvelles (Central Agency for New Towns) feels that the French New Town experience merits careful examination with particular attention to the following points : — the coincidence, at least from the historic standpoint, of the New Towns achievement with the phase of economic expansion and rapid urbanization in France (1960-1975) ;

— the «technocracy» : its composition, the role of the various groups that constitute it ;

— the 1962-1967 period witnessed the establishment of the New Town project and the setting up of the basic mechanisms required for its implementation : A careful analysis of the motivations, the power relationships, the role of the various actors during that period would be useful.

The way the project was set up and financed, the organization and working methods of the various agencies concerned with its implementation, marked a break with the habitual behavior of the French administration, upsetting previous balances. Examples of this are the Central Agency for New Towns, the constant support of the Finance Minister for the New Towns, the working methods put into practice that forced Government officials to establish a different type of relationship with the local elected authorities and those directly responsible for carrying out the operations.

In conclusion, J.-E. Roullier spells out the «lesson» of the New Towns : As opposed to the generally «dis-articulated» functioning of the chain of urbanism agents and officials, the New Towns experience is a successful example of a different way of operating which «re-articulates », on the one hand, responsible community groupings having at their disposal the programmed means required but limited role of stimulation, assistance,

for an overall facilities policy, and, on guidance, and supervision. This is an

the other, permanent interdisciplinary interpretation substantially different from

teams working on the spot in contact Alduy' s view of an all-powerful techno-

with the builders and fulfilling a vital cracy, arm of the central state apparatus.