Resident Participation In Housing Regeneration In France

The involvement of local residents in housing regeneration policy and practice has become a 'new orthodoxy' across Western Europe. This paper considers the experience of France, a country noted for its history of 'third sector' activism and innovative practice in, for example, neighbourhood management. It is argued here that-notwithstanding three decades of central government rhetoric and exhortation-there remain few examples of genuine involvement of residents in formal regeneration decision-making processes at a local level in France (especially in respect of strategic issues). There exists a 'participation deficit'. This paper explores this phenomenon empirically through case studies of housing regeneration in Lyon, Marseille and Mantes la Jolie. It also seeks to explain the 'participation deficit', drawing a distinction between those factors that are pan-European and those that are particularly French, not least the apparent resilience of representative democracy.