LATTS members involved:
Félix Adisson
Ludovic Halbert
Nicolas Maisetti
Partners:
Gustave Eiffel University, LATTS
Paris Est Créteil University, LAB'URBA
University of Perpignan, CDED
University of Avignon, ESPACE
Ecole des Mines, ISIGE
Aix-Marseille University, TELEMME
Open University (London)
InveST analyzes the implementation of sustainable development requirements in local public action in a context of increased financial rigor. To this end, it tests two hypotheses: first, that the rationales, instruments, and practices associated with this austerity influence the selection of priorities and the content of local public action in terms of sustainability; second, that public action carried out under financial constraints accentuates disparities between and within territories. To this end, InveST questions the ways in which financial austerity is represented and mobilized by actors as both a constraint and an opportunity for the implementation of local sustainability policies. It also analyzes financial practices and power relations in territorial political systems in order to qualify the role of austerity in transforming political agendas, objectives, and the conditions for the production of public action on sustainability. These issues are studied through two complementary objects. The first describes the evolution of central government policies and its relations with local authorities in the application of the austerity agenda. The second is a comparison of six urban inter-municipal groups. The analysis of financial discipline is carried out for five areas of public action selected for their financial weight and sustainability challenges: local authorities' land and real estate assets, water networks, social housing, urban and economic development, and sustainable mobility.