L’urbanisme qui vient

Abstract

For less than a decade, the combined use of values and narrative communication has been becoming increasingly important in the steering of urban projects. The present article discusses this transformation of urban production, which occurs at the same time as a transformation in the condition of urban planners. To this end, the advent of coordinated planning subsequent to the generalisation of the urban project ideology is reviewed. Then, the assumption of a dematerialisation of urban planning correlative to the emergence of a motion paradigm is discussed. Finally, the emergence of values and narratives in urban projects at the same time as a collapse of rules and regula is considered from the point of view of the reconfiguration that it causes in the field of professional practice. Making free use of the material of recent research on urban planning trades, the article shows that the transformations underway do not occur smoothly, contrary to what is being said by the apologists of the new urban planning.