L’aménagement urbain public en Amérique du Nord. Traductions locales d’un concept théorique

Abstract

In the United States and in Canada, the urban development initiated by public actors often takes the form of projects of intermediate scale and length. Some of these developments reflect the local practice of a public urban development influenced by the North American politico-legal frameworks; while others follow alternative logics, such as the practice of a negotiated urban development. This work is based on a cross-section analysis of the North American urban projects documented in scholar literature (Bonneville, 1986 ; Dablanc, 1996 ; Baffico, 2014a, 2014b ; Poiret, 2014 ; Courcier, 2008 ; Viel et al., 2012 ; Dushina et al., 2015), enriched by interviews with actors of the local urban development industry. This approach shows how the public urban development practice is organized in North America. Despite the vastness of the North American continent, the politico-legal logics which influence the local translations of the urban development concept allows for a way to identify some common features in local practices. The paper shows that some North American public actors (especially States and municipalities) are able to initiate urban development projects which address the characteristics of public urban development. However, the work concludes that none of these public actors has structured their practice of public urban development in a specific framework - as is the case in France.

Keywords

• urban development
• urban planning
• Quebec