With or Without You?¹Strategic Spatial Planning and Territorial Re-Scaling in Grenoble Urban Region

Abstract

Spatial planning across European city regions is undergoing substantial changes. The paper draws on the framework of territorial re-scaling, strategic spatial planning and the emergence of new governance modes in order to analyse strategic planning episodes in Grenoble urban region (France). The paper aims at showing how strategic planning processes by means of new governance arenas call into question local planning cultures, especially by reshaping planning perimeters, territorial identities and actors' roles. In particular, it shows the importance of path dependency for strategic planning, the effects of power imbalances between local actors and the crucial role planners play in spatial policy-making.