Introduction

Planning in France has always been a state affair. In the 17th century, a territorial administration was created to implement the rational organisation of space through centralised infrastructure as the cornerstone of the new-born nation state and, from the late 18th century, a vector for republican values (Foucault, 1975). In the late 20th century, despite a shift towards decentralisation that saw private actors taking a central role in urban planning, things remained fundamentally unchanged. By defining and implementing urban laws, including the process for the declaration of public utility, national and local government remain responsible for orchestrating spatial planning. This hierarchical system continues to deeply structure the mechanisms governing urban development despite the changing ‘rules of the urban game’ (Bourdin et al, 2006). According to professionals and researchers, the changes occurring include: the need for greater horizontal cooperation between all actors; the growing importance of public–private partnerships in project organisation; and the necessary promotion of the principle of citizen participation in urban design and infrastructure projects. Another change under way is the fledgling role accorded to residents during specific phases of urban planning process phases. Without calling into question the fundamentals of representative democracy, where the final decision-making power is accorded to elected administrators, new political forms are emerging in which citizen participation is integrated into public action in the field of urban development.

These transformations call into question the French notion of l’intérêt collectif (the collective interest), which has its roots in the concept of l’intérêt général (the general interest). This relationship to the collective interest largely distinguishes French and Anglo-Saxon approaches to citizen participation in urban planning. The expression l’intérêt général is more generic and impersonal than l’intérêt collectif, a term derived from the substantialiste approach of the Jacobin state during the French Revolution and that better captures the notion of a group of individuals. In the 18th century, the notion of the ‘general interest’ became current, replacing the ‘common good’, with its religious and moral connotations. For the following two centuries, the legitimacy of state intervention was entirely based on this concept, and in certain domains, the only legitimate actors were public authorities.