Les personnes issues de

l’immigration dans les

politiques socio-urbaines

à Bruxelles et Montréal MURIEL SACCO GERME-ULB

Management of the ethnic diversity in the new urban policies

implemented in Brussels and Montreal since the 90’s

Inspired by the french Politique de la ville (mission d’études, entretiens Jacques Cartier, colloques, ….) policy transfers

Similar objectives and tools: targeting popular and ethnic neighbourhoods

Comparing Brussels and Montreal:

similarities

Similar policy discourses about goals and tools of new urban policies in

Brussels and Montreal in the 90’s

Need of additionnal financial ressources to tackle urban problems

Integrated policies: urban and social dimensions of the poverty and exclusion

Selected areas targeted

Promotion of the neighbourhood level

Partnerships

Mobilization of neighbourdhood ressources

Participative devices

Social problems

Multicultural cities

Popular neighbourhoods in the center of the city

Financial and administrative cities

Decline of the industrial sector

Fiscal crisis

Interest for urban planning in the 90’s

Introduction of new urban policies in the 90’s

Differences

Brussels Montreal

Very decentralized

Strong municipal institutions

Proportional elections

Regional government at the level of

the city

High number of officials in the 19

municipalities of Brussels (± 600)

assimilationnisme

Very centralized

Weak inframunicipal institutions

Majoritarian elections

Municipal institutions at urban level

Low number of officials

interculturalism

Policies considered

Brussels Montreal

Contrat de quartier (1993-?): regional

Politique fédérale des grandes villes

(1999-?): federal

Quartiers ciblés et sensibles (1999-

2002)

Contrat de ville –volet lutte contre la

pauvreté (2003-?)

Programme de renouveau urbain

(2003-2005)

Revitalisation urbaine intégrée (2003-

?)

Methods

140 in-depth interviews with actors involved in the policy-making

Press review

Documents

Observations

3 neighbourhoods

Brussels : Dansaert, Anneessens and Cureghem

Montreal: Parc-Extension, Sainte-Marie et Saint-Jacques

Starting hypothesis

Politics frames policy

Historical Institutionnal : veto points and path dependence

Representations of policy implementation matters

Policy styles in the urban sector

Size and composition of the policy networks

Relationships between actors

Multilevel relationships

Tools

Participative devices : rules and impact on the policymaking

Use of the neighbourhood

Policy outcomes

Policy styles in new social urban

policies Brussels

Montreal

Participatory devices

Multilevel network

Multilevel hierchical relationships

Strong contractualization

Strong control of supramunicipal actors

Municipal actors specialized in the implementation

Weak coordination at the municipal level

Weak weight of the participative devices and associative actors

Urban experts: urban planning agencies

New projects

Local coalition

Reduced number of actors: inframunicipal officials and civil servants and communitarian actors

Cooperative relationships

Informal procedures

Expertise of the associative actors

Projects defined before the introduction of these policies

The preexisting context

Brussels Montreal

Crisis of the political legitimacy

Powerful municipalities : clientelism

and absence of municipal

knowledge

Fear of the inhabitants of popular

neighbourhoods: institutional and

political racism at the municipal

level (Rea, 1999)

assimilationnism

Popular neighbourhood

abandonned

Tradition of governance since the 70’s

Weak infra-provincial political power

Powerful communitarian groups at the

neighbourhood level : strong neighbourhood

expertise

Immigrants were already policy and

communitarian target at the provincial and local

level

Interculturalism

Neighbourhood as place of the policymaking

Different outcomes and goals

Brussels Montreal

Securitarian and esthetical attention new

urban jobs

Increasing the municipal patrimony

Social and middle housing

Attract middle classes

Modern architectural style

gentrification

place oriented

Community centered approach

empowerment

Increasing the quality of the provided local

services, including public spaces

Filling the gaps in the services offered

improve the services provided to inhabitants

and living conditions

people oriented

Transfers of existing practices at the

neighbourhood level

Different outcomes and goals

Brussels Montreal

General reluctance to participative devices

Inhabitants of these neighbourhoods are not the

policy target, social mixity by replacement

Fear of the ghettoisation need to add new

populations with better practices and lifestyles

Any relationship with migrant associations

assimilationnism continues

Politician try to reach new migrant

communities

Migrant associations are found to improve the

level of services they receive

Methodology to reach new migrants: visiting

them at home

Interculturalism is still working

Explanatory framework : the actors’

background

Brussels Montreal Dominant actors involved in the

economical development

Valorization of architects and city

planners through expertise

Local civil cervants come from the

private sector: weak

professionalization, local knowledge

and positions

Professionalization of the associative actors reduction of the politicization,

no expertise

Weak political actors

Civil servant from the social sector

Strong communitarian tradition at

the local level

Neighbourhood as scale of policy

making

The social and local development

as solution

Answer to the needs of residents

Explanatory framework: the actors’

background

Brussels Montreal

Low influence of the associative actors

Neighbourhood as scale of implementation

Architecture as solution

attract middle classes

Weak political actors

Civil servant from the social or

participative sector

Strong communitarian tradition at

the local level

Neighbourhood as scale of policy

making

The social and local development

as solution

Answer to the needs of residents

Explaining changes

Brussels Montreal

Renewal of the political and administrative

staff at the municipal level

Institutionnalization of the Region of Brussels

Learning process

Slow process of administrative

professionalization

Extension of the municipal electorate to

migrants

Strenghth of the policy rules:

municipal failure perceived at supracommunal

level

Retreat and institutionnalization of

communautarian actors

Strenght of the inframunicipal actors +

municipal reform (2001)

Institutionnalization of the

inframunicipal civil servants

Explaining continuities

Historical Institutionnal : veto points (Immergut, 1992)and path

dependence (Pierson, 1994)

formal institutional framework translates a specific conception of the

relationships between public actors and urban residents, citizenships

(Lascousmes and Le Galès, 2004)

Cognitive frame of the actors : interpretations of the new urban question

values as institution diffused by actors

Explaining changes

Incremental changes

Policy frames politics and political regulation

Learning process