From public to private expertise? Understanding the changes in expertise provision in French smaller cities’ urban policies

This paper explores the privatisation of urban expertise in smaller cities. It is based on a PhD thesis that investigated urban policies implemented in four French medium-sized cities since the 1980s, using qualitative research methods. Three phases in the transformation of urban expertise provision are identified. Findings suggest that state restructuring and administrative reforms framed the privatisation of urban expertise in smaller French cities, which were previously excluded from the dynamics of globalisation and growth of ‘consultocracy’.