How may the City Contract be a more useful tool, that facilitates the work of public agents on the ground and broadens their scope for action? A City Contract that reinforces and/or enables the renewal of professionals' practices, and cooperation between all stakeholders in urban policy? One that strikes a balance between the ingenuity and responsiveness of those on the ground and the stabilisation of the framework for action? This is the ambition behind Nouveaux Accords, a collaborative action-research programme on the City Contract.
Approach
Re-examining the contract from a grassroots perspective
As a new phase of contract-based urban policy is on the horizon, Nouveaux Accords proposes to build on the evaluation of current contracts by focusing on the needs of their 'key players', the urban social development project managers - who serve as entry points into the ecosystem of city contracts - and their day-to-day partners, notably the prefect's representatives. This 16-month action research project thus aims to inform the drafting of the new urban contracts by jointly developing and testing new tools, working methods, professional practices, governing bodies, etc., based on the needs on the ground across three partner regions.
An open community of practitioners
The approach will also be jointly developed, discussed and refined through a series of workshops aimed at social and urban development stakeholders from a variety of regions. These workshops will help to underpin the assessment of the strengths and limitations of current contracts, whilst also looking ahead to the next generation of contracts, in particular by examining their ability to address the issue of climate justice.
Sharing at national level
The programme will be documented on an ongoing basis, with regular opportunities for sharing and consolidating lessons learnt with a ‘mirror group’ comprising regional and national stakeholders and networks involved in urban policy (associations of elected representatives and professionals, urban policy resource centres, etc.).
Partners
'Nouveaux Accords' is run in partnership with theNational Agency for Territorial Cohesion, Aix-Marseille Provence Métropole, the Dunkerque Urban Community and the City of Vitry-le-François.
The programme is led and facilitated by La 27e Région and researchers and practitioners specialising in territorial cooperation, public policy design and community education (the organisations Partie Prenante, Itinéraire Bis,Les Beaux Jours and Camille Arnodin).
A collaborative field study, supplemented by an analysis of resources and monitoring, to identify needs and co-design the initiatives.
November 2022 – December 2023
A series of online workshops open to all public officers from local authorities and representatives of the relevant national authorities, to analyse the potential and challenges of the 'city contract' tool, particularly from the perspective of climate justice.
March 2023 – December 2023
Several practical pilot schemes in the pilot areas of the Aix-Marseille Provence Metropolis, Vitry-le-François and the Dunkirk Urban Community to test new tools, bodies, professional practices, working methods, etc.
Early 2024
The production and dissemination of lessons learnt across the regions and at national level.
