Reorganization of territorial governance: dynamics and repercussions

France’s recent reforms concerning territorial governance have set in motion a host of simultaneous projects requiring the reorganization of local authorities – a task made even more complex by the fact that relationships between different authorities are also impacted. Nonetheless, local authority chief executives see these reforms as a powerful engine for progress.

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Just as the anatomical chart is not the body, the map is not the territory, and the organization chart is not the organization. Static vision may be reassuring, but it is false.

We who are involved in “territorial” questions every day understand the extent to which time, people, relationships and projects constitute the life force of these entities that we call territories. Without them, there is no movement, no energy. It is perhaps this idea that unites us and takes us beyond the different local realities we encounter in Italy, Sweden, Marseille, Strasbourg, Bordeaux or elsewhere.
Time is an essential component of territories: without it, there is no dynamic.

Territorial reform has raised a multitude of challenges regarding effectiveness, where time, in various ways, plays a key role. For example, what is the best way to go about transforming our organizations: gradually or in a big bang?
The answer obviously depends on the context and is far from clear. Hence the value of discussing it among colleagues, enlightened by other practices across Europe, as well as research and statistical data that broadens our scope of reflection.
Éric Ardouin
Chief Executive of Bordeaux Metropole and the City of Bordeaux

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