Convergences in urban public action through the transnational circulation of models
Paul Gourdon, PhD student at Géographie-Cités, will present his thesis in geography: “Cooperation between European cities: convergences in urban public action through the transnational circulation of models”.
Tuesday, November 30 at 2pm
At the Condorcet Campus, Auditorium, Espace F. Héritier, Grand Ensemble Documentaire (GED) building. 10, cours des Humanités, 93322 Aubervilliers
This thesis investigates the political relations between European cities from 2000 to 2020. Through the construction of two large-scale databases, we empirically analyze the systems of relations forged by the EU cooperation projects and by transnational municipal networks. Using spatial analysis, network analysis and text mining, this thesis explores the space of the European cooperation, describes the networks of affiliation and analyzes the urban models that circulate through these channels. The goal is to rethink and conceptualize the “transnational” as a process through which local policies are selected, benchmarked and turned into “best practices”. Findings highlight the enforcement and strengthening of standardized public action policies on a European scale.
Cooperation between cities unfolds over large regional areas and displays the level of internationalisation correlated with the size and the administrative status of cities. Whilst smaller cities play a lesser role, their participation can prove decisive for gaining visibility and voicing collective aims. Local policies, mediated through these networks, contribute to the circulation of the urban power discourses, as expressed through the language of neoliberalism. Yet, the framing of the “small town” category reveals a more complex picture in which the desire to enter inter-urban competition coexists with long-term ecological and social strategies. This challenges the metropolitan trope of the states and the EU, and confronts the failures of the uneven development produced by capitalism.
