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This article serves to highlight a transformation taking place within urban utility services, with respect both to their internal properties (technological aspects) and their environment as a whole. It starts out with a discussion of two trends which are currently perceived in France as threats to the provision of public services : the appearance of new forms of poverty, and the Europe-wide liberalism being practiced by Brussels. With respect to each of these two discussion topics, the arguments presented herein lead to an assessment that remains somewhat mixed. While new forms of poverty are indeed being encountered, and in particular the « working poor », the current situation has in no way reached the point of social exclusion. Differences do exist between the « French notion » of public services and the notion of universal service, yet these differences could not be qualified as radical. Europe, on the whole, shares the same vision of public service activities, as being distinct from market-related activities. The article then turns to examining current regulatory efforts and exposes a newly-discovered problem. While the public authority is perfectly capable of defining the ground rules - a framework, a set of standards to be respected - it struggles when exercising the role of firm regulator by virtue of its inherent tendency to remain in motion and thus to blur the controls in place. Here lies the basis for a new field of investigation should the firm continue as a pivotal actor in the economics of urban utility services.

Public authorities generally face the problem of controlling services of public interest and ensuring that such services fulfil their specified functions. This is true both for major, national services, which are often in the hands of State enterprises, and for municipal services, which are frequently delegated to private companies. The implementation of public services implies a clear definition of their functions, a separation between the operator(s) and the regulator, as well as effective procedures for both exercising public regulatory authority and conducting assessments. The relationship between operators) and regulator is often characterised by a structural information imbalance in favour of the former, which may lead to the regulator being « co-opted » by the operators). Operators are spontaneously tempted to acquire and divert revenues at the expense of consumers and/or the community. A more satisfactory situation would be to move beyond this « regulation by experts » approach towards a form of « regulation by actors ». Such a shift would involve the participation of all actors at every geographical level, including the European level. Not only would public authorities and operators be drawn into the process, but so would consumers, citizens, local authorities, national as well as local elected representatives, employees and trade unions. This new balance would then make it possible to undertake real, pluralistic assessments of the economic and social effectiveness of public services.

Despite heavy impetus on the part of lawmakers, current legislation governing the operations of delegated local public service companies acting in the sectors of water and wastewater does leave a rather wide margin for potential mishandling, from the vantage point of both the company and local elected officials. Attaining efficiency in these services at the practical level implies the contribution of other mechanisms towards regulating this sector in a systemic fashion (what Dominique Lorrain has qualified as « regulator-free regulation »), which still remains only partial in scope. We'll be highlighting the role played by the relationships between the price and quality of water and wastewater services; our attention will then turn to presenting the results of an analysis carried out among 400 services in operation. The ensuing discussion will lead to recognizing to what extent the quality issue represents an uncertainty. Among the regulatory innovations suggested by economic theory as well as those resulting from selected experiments conducted abroad in other sectors of activity, we seek to emphasize the potential attractiveness of the « sunshine regulation », along with the fact that the relationships analyzed could help implement such a mechanism within the sector of water and wastewater services, whether at the national scale or Europe-wide. Lastly, we forward the notion that a « sunk cost » type of compensation formula would render the monopoly status enjoyed by delegated public service companies « contestable » and that competition could provide a powerful incentive for enhancing efficiency.

Regulation and public service obligations : Lessons The regulatory reforms currently implemented in many industrialized countries are being driven by a liberalization process. Within such a context, the capacity to fulfill public service obligations depends not only on the specific nature of these obligations, but on the strategies and structures developed by the regulated companies as well. In this paper, our aim is to understand the relationships existing between the set of regulatory rules and the business strategies adopted by public service operating companies. Our analysis has been based on Britain's regulatory reform. We highlight that regulatory bodies not only exercise the task of defining a set of non-commercial obligations, but are also responsible for orienting the technical, economic and financial decisions being made by the regulated companies. Regulatory bodies are thus being placed in the delicate situation of guiding operators' business strategies, in addition to monitoring and verifying that public service obligations are being fulfilled.

According to today's prevailing opinion, recent changes in the management approach to the provision of urban public services should contribute to building social harmony in Southern African cities, where widespread and multifaceted poverty further adds to the social discord of racial discrimination. Nonetheless, present reforms have resulted in a reshaping of public infrastructure networks and supply of services which, being more client-oriented, tend to isolate not only particular segments of the urban population but geographical pockets as well. Moreover, this process serves to heighten both the social and spatial fragmentation existing in urban areas.

Historically speaking, public utilities have been managed by a form of regulated monopoly. Microeconomic theory explains this phenomenon by the cost structure and the presence of economies of scale. Regarding the water supply sector, public health considerations also argue in favour of monopoly supply. Nevertheless, this management option has become more and more controversial, and not just within the industrialised countries. In Delhi, for instance, new solutions are emerging, yet they are less institutionalised and more informal. The upcoming challenge lies in assessing whether these new networks are indeed sustainable.

The notion of « cost balancing » is diametrically opposed to that of cost sharing, which is aimed at computing the true contribution of each agent to the total cost. Since defending this notion of « cost balancing » from the standpoint of economic efficiency is absolutely futile, equity may indeed serve as the sole purpose for lending support to such a practice. However, the inherent conflict arising between the principle of awarding just compensation and that of assuming responsibility proves unavoidable in any pursuit of equal opportunity.

The Paris Region's Transit Authority (RATP) has been strengthening its role as a major force in the city, in partnership with local authorities, in an effort to promote public transport as a means of truly enjoying urban life. Exerting an impact on urban policy is the key to changing perceptions. Mobility constitutes a pivotal factor in facilitating urban integration. In order to incite local development, the RATP has been working hand in hand with companies showing interest in the future of the city by creating local services in specifically-targeted areas, whereby the jobs generated benefit from a newly-designed professional status. Employment opportunity for these areas' youth populations represents a linchpin to such an effort. Following an initial demonstration period, this program' s operational phase will get under way, bringing with it 1,000 time-sharing jobs by the year 2000.

The provision of public services could be used as the backdrop for a debate between an increasingly-automated society and a State administration on the brink of crisis. From this standpoint, the corps of service professionals who are placed in direct contact with the public could become a sort of media agent, spokespeople for the social demands to be incorporated into any planned service modification. Public transportation services, and in particular bus services, are singled out in order to help develop the thesis presented herein. The experiences conducted have enabled placing the services' agents and the local population into a cooperative relationship by creating a forum for venting their respective complaints. These experiences have led to a « mutual recognition » of professional aptitude, whereby the social skills exhibited by those without any formal training were able to be transformed into recognized mediator skills applied to improving the relationship between public services and the user population.

established concepts of land use planning. It is a bottom-up, user-oriented approach that's entirely open to the potential represented by information technologies; it allows rethinking the notion of mobility. In order to bridge the gap between present concepts of land use planning and longer-term perspectives, it has also been recommended to work (or rather to experiment) with so-called « test set-ups ». Since August of 1997, a follow-up of this study has taken on the form of a design studio in the Faculty of Architecture at the Delft University of Technology, in cooperation with the VROM. Bringing together researchers, undergraduate students in the final years of their academic programs, and both internal and external partners, this design studio focuses on both physical planning and transport / infrastructure provision, and takes account of economy, environment and social and cultural aspects. The original test set-ups also serve as a framework for a wider range of projects. The VROM acts as a sounding board, an interface between « academia » and the realm of urban planning, policy and governance.