L'intercommunalité dans la régulation publique territoriale. Le cas de deux communautés d'agglomération franciliennes

Turning away from a critical analysis of inter-municipal authorities which remains mainly based on their inability to meet some expected<np pagenum="184"/> results (economies of scale, streamlining of policies, functional and social diversity, redistribution of resources) this article focuses on the outcomes of inter-municipal policies. Through consideration of various examples from the study of two ?communautés d?agglomération? in the Ile-de-France region, we develop two complementary approaches. First, we characterise the role of inter-municipal authorities in what we call the ?territorial rule-building process?, that is the way public actors of different government levels come to an agreement on the rules (norms, ratios, perimeters, etc.) that serve as guidelines for local public action. Second, we identify the specific contribution of inter-municipal technical units in their ability to build a collective vision of urban development which goes further than municipal strategies.