SUMMARY
Long a marginal issue, medium-sized towns have been enjoying renewed political and media interest since the mid-2010s. The French government has responded with a number of measures, including the Action Cœur de Ville program, which aims to revitalize urban centers. However, the existing schemes remain too uniform, overlooking the considerable heterogeneity of these areas.
Achille WARNANT notes that medium-sized towns are emerging as laboratories for innovation: brownfield redevelopment (Montbrison), circular urban planning (Épinal), combating commercial vacancy (Vierzon), free transport (Châteauroux), cultural and educational projects (Bourges, Nevers). These experiments show that they can be spaces for social, ecological and economic experimentation, provided they are better supported.
The author calls for a new approach to public policy, based on three levers: a truly "tailor-made" approach , via differentiated contracts and a national fund for territorial experimentation; overcoming the logic of attractiveness at all costs, in favor of territorial habitability, centered on well-being and sustainability; priority targeting of the most vulnerable towns, with a detailed mapping of weaknesses and a strengthening of local engineering.
Ultimately, medium-sized towns are not condemned to decline. They can be key players in the transition process if their diversity is recognized, and if public action moves away from the "ready-to-wear" approach and takes on a truly "tailor-made" approach.
Key words: Action Cœur de Ville, centrality, inter-territorial cooperation, urban decline, territorial innovation, territorial livability, local engineering, differentiated public policies, transitions, commercial vacancy, medium-sized towns.
