Report to Plan Urbanisme Construction Architecture on progress in France’s former industrial cities CASE report 70 Bert Provan and Celine Kuklowsky LSE Housing and Communities October 2011 LSE Housing and Communities, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE. Tel: +44 (0) 207 955 6330; Fax: +44 (0) 207 955 6571 Email: [email protected] 1 Acknowledgements We are very grateful to Plan Urbanisme Construction Architecture (PUCA), and especially to Nicole Rousier and Anne Querrien for their support for this research. Our sincere thanks also goes to Sylvia Harburger from Caisse des Depots and the European Commission for her sound advice and constant attention to detail. We would like to acknowledge the immeasurable support we have received from the Cities of Lille, St Etienne and Metz, and in particular would like to thank Mathieu Goetze from the City of Lille for his collaboration and advice in delivering our work. 2 Table of Contents Executive Summary .............................................................................................................. 7 Part One: Background and Overview .................................................................................. 14 Chapter One: Introduction, aims, and approach .................................................................. 14 Chapter Two: Background to France’s urban legacy ........................................................... 17 Three stages of industrialisation, and de-industrialisation ................................................ 17 Chapter Three: The case study cities - Lille, Metz, Saint-Étienne ........................................ 20 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 20 Overview of the cities ....................................................................................................... 20 Growth and decline .......................................................................................................... 21 Population ........................................................................................................................ 22 Employment and income ................................................................................................. 24 Social housing and deprivation ........................................................................................ 26 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 29 Part Two: What do these Cities teach us? ........................................................................... 30 Chapter Four: Building a new economy, and confronting the crisis ..................................... 31 Introduction: ..................................................................................................................... 31 Major urban redevelopment projects ................................................................................ 31 Mixing Large with SME businesses .................................................................................. 34 University links ................................................................................................................. 38 How effective are these approaches, viewed locally? ...................................................... 39 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 39 Chapter Five: Rebuilding the city ........................................................................................ 41 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 41 City image and appeal ..................................................................................................... 41 Managing urban sprawl and city density .......................................................................... 43 Wider metropolitan governance ....................................................................................... 46 Progress? – Views from the cities .................................................................................... 50 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 51 Chapter Six: The Social Agenda of Cities ............................................................................ 52 The big challenges – disadvantaged neighbourhoods ...................................................... 52 Major programmes ........................................................................................................... 53 Excluded groups and estates in the case study cities ...................................................... 55 Has exclusion decreased? ............................................................................................... 56 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 58 3 Chapter Seven: Developing and delivering the Climate Change agenda ............................ 59 A new green economy? ................................................................................................... 59 Action in the cities ............................................................................................................ 60 Green innovation ............................................................................................................. 63 Protecting the green environment .................................................................................... 64 Involving communities ...................................................................................................... 65 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 67 Chapter Eight: Major programmes and the Financial Crisis ................................................. 68 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 68 Increased unemployment ................................................................................................. 68 A continuing decline of industrial jobs .............................................................................. 69 Debt levels ....................................................................................................................... 70 Local taxes ...................................................................................................................... 72 National programme funding ............................................................................................ 73 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 74 Chapter Nine: Concluding Thoughts ................................................................................... 76 City image and resident confidence ................................................................................. 76 New jobs and enterprises ................................................................................................ 76 The continuing role of the central state ............................................................................ 77 The high impact of neighbourhood renewal works ........................................................... 78 Economic innovation ........................................................................................................ 78 Delivering the Green Agenda ........................................................................................... 79 Political direction .............................................................................................................. 80 Part Three: City Profiles ...................................................................................................... 81 List of Main Interviewees and Contacts ............................................................................... 92 Bibliography and sources .................................................................................................... 93 Annex 1: Lille Workshop ..................................................................................................... 96 Table of Figures Figure 1: Population and employment characteristic of the three cities ................................................. 9 Figure 2: Common patterns of recovery ............................................................................................... 12 Figure 3: Three stages of industrial development ................................................................................. 17 Figure 4: Industrial decline in the three cities ........................................................................................ 21 Figure 5: City population change 1968-2008 ........................................................................................ 22 Figure 6: Metro population change 1968-2008 ..................................................................................... 22 Figure 7: French metropolitan population growth 1968-2008 ............................................................... 23 Figure 8: City populations by age ........................................................................................................