Contenu du sommaire : Une nouvelle culture de l'aménagement des villes

Since the 1960s, the emblematic figure of Oriol Bohigas has been omnipresent at Barcelona : as part of the "Barcelona school", as head of the Urban Development Service following his appointment in 1979 and the launching of '1 00 projects to change Barcelona' and later as originator of the Olympic village. His successor, Joan Busquets, effected the transition from an urban to a city project, while Bohigas published his memoirs but without designating an official heir. However, they have all i contributed to the radical transformation of the appearance of this "architects' city", which remains a fascinating "urban laboratory".

The two largest schemes of renovation and creation of new public spaces in the centres of Mexican cities, the Plaza Tapatia at Guadalajara and the Gran Plaza at Monterrey, have sought to mobilise private investment to redevelop areas open to public use. In the two cases, the building ; of a new multi-functional centre for the city was a failure. The joint presentation of these two projects highlights certain forms of action by the authorities which are specific to the process of intervention in the central areas of Mexican cities.

The project to restructure a part of the historic centre of Puebla (Mexico) was initiated in 1993, linked to supposed foreign . investors and based on the principle of 'renovation by the bulldozer'. Following the withdrawal of these investors and strong, widespread opposition, the project was revised. A second project to restore properties was also rejected for failing to take any greater account of the local population. The project which was started in 1997 represents a compromise between the ishes of the authorities to restructure the area's architecture and functions, and those of the residents to protect their urban heritage.

In abandoning procedures of expropriation and premption, the Japanese have devised a more consensual approach to freeing up the necessary land for urban - development. In the case of urban restructuring this has involved increasing the density of the built- up area. At Tokyo, despite an attempt at coherence and upgrading of existing urban landscapes, individual programmes of renovation have dominated. Two such schemes aim to confirm Tokyo's role as an international city.

Early 80's represent an inflexion period in the history of Grenoble's urban policies. Public policies' level changes : the city takes place of the neighbourhood. This change is linked to a transformation of the ways of thinking and behaving upon the town. A social representation based on an areas-shared agglomeration gradualy gives the way to a representation which tries to understand the town from different networks. In the same time, a negociation-based model replaces a hierarchical public action model.