Anastasia Touati: Political economy of densification in predominantly suburban areas: the advent of differentiated post-suburban strategies

Thesis supervisor(s): Olivier Coutard, Jonathan Rutherford

The aim of the thesis is to study the processes of densification in predominantly suburban areas, which have yet to be studied in depth in terms of their morphological transformations. To this end, we adopt an approach based on the political economy of urban production, which focuses on studying the political, economic, and social aspects, as well as the regulatory and technical aspects, that may explain the materiality of the urban transformations observed. To this end, we combine two lines of research: territorial political economy and development economics. More specifically, the concept of post-suburbanization, understood as a generalized process of intensive development that affects suburban areas in different ways and leads to the gradual empowerment of these suburbs in relation to the city center of the metropolitan area, is at the heart of our approach.
Post-suburbanization differs from suburbanization, which was based more on extensive urban development. It therefore raises the question of the densification of low-density suburban areas inherited from the suburban era. However, not all municipalities are seeking to increase density in this process; some are deliberately preventing densification, while others are seeking to promote it. This leads us to formulate the central hypothesis of our work, namely that there is a link between a municipality's post-suburban strategy and the form of densification it favors.
We studied densification processes in predominantly suburban areas, in contexts characterized, among other things, by the existence of explicit local densification policies, in two municipalities in the Toronto metropolitan area in Canada (Guelph and Markham) and in two municipalities in the Paris metropolitan area in France (Magny-les-Hameaux and Noisy-le-Grand). A comparison of the four case studies reveals two main types of densification processes: gentle densification processes (Guelph and Magny-les-Hameaux), characterized by densification without any change in urban form, and strong densification processes (Markham and Noisy-le-Grand), characterized by a significant change in urban form that can lead to the replacement of all or part of the existing suburban fabric with apartment buildings. This is our first finding.
A detailed analysis of the processes in context and the various policies specifically targeting densification reveals a second result: in all four municipalities, the stated densification policies are explicitly linked to a search for relative centrality. The form of densification observed within predominantly suburban areas thus appears to be both a means and a result of the degree of centrality sought by a given municipality in the post-suburban hierarchy. More specifically, in the cases studied, incentive policies for soft densification are implemented in municipalities that adopt a strategy of centrality with a rather local scope, which translates into a policy of moderate growth, mainly residential. Meanwhile, strong densification policies (whether incentive-based or interventionist) are the preserve of municipalities adopting a sub-regional centrality strategy, which translates into entrepreneurial policies aimed at attracting households and jobs to their territory. This research also shows that while densification processes are mainly the result of market mechanisms that vary depending on the national urban and cultural context, the policies put in place play an important role in the creation of these land and real estate markets.
Finally, we highlight four types of local policies for densifying predominantly suburban areas: soft densification incentive policies, hard densification incentive policies, hard densification interventionist policies, and soft densification interventionist policies. These different types of policies have different effects on the form (urban forms produced) and configuration (actors involved, actors impacted, distribution of capital gains) of densification processes.

Keywords:
Densification, Suburban Fabric, Political Economy, Urban Policy, Post-suburbs, France/CanadaKeywords: Densification, Suburban fabric, Political economy, Urban policies, Post-suburbs, France/Canada

Thesis defended on June 21, 2013, PhD in Spatial Planning, Urban Planning

Year of thesis registration:
2009

Doctoral school:
VTT – City, Transportation, and Territories

Publiée le 21 June 2013