It is through a method which was intentionally different from that of traditional town planners that we wanted to deal with the problems of sustainable development and construction of a project plan for this city in the south of France. But, the hodgepodge of sentiments, conflicts and attachments seemed to oppose all ideas which suggested anything but a short-term economic management whereby maximum space is used up only to offer mediocre "area of activity" at low prices, with easy access for all vehicles.

I chose to take all decision-makers away from their daily reality by first explaining to them what I thought was concrete sustainable development both for the elected representatives and the citizen. "Sustainable development is defined as a development that integrates into land development the future of coming generations, while ensuring coherence between economic development, social progress, environment, heritage, cultural identities and solidarities." I then gave them an exercise to look into the future so that they understand the strategy for organising space in a given area. I asked them what differences they noticed between their city and the proposal made during the exercise which was deliberately far-removed from their reality. This exercise of distancing them and putting things in a different perspective helped in appointing the first steering committee for the drafting of a project plan.

There was another difficulty when it came to making these decision-makers move away from the linear way of their technocratic planning. For me, it was essential that they plan in a global and systemic manner.

The final written document constituting the draft plan - a common base of reference for all partners - comprised three parts: an analysis on the state of the site, possible strategies with examples, and a true project plan.

The situation analysis was introduced by a quotation from Machiavel: "There aren’t any other means to guard yourself from flattery but to let everyone around you know that truth doesn’t offend you at all; but, if everyone has the right to tell you the truth, one cannot but respect you". It included studies conducted beforehand and the new elements that resulted from meetings with partners, actors as also opposing parties and associations. It was well illustrated with drawings, photos, etc. and essentially covered the area, the economy, the landscape, the morphology and urban growth, to present the hierarchy for urban and economic aspects and the landscape. (suggestion PhG: to present a hierarchy of the main challenges recognized/accepted by all)

The second document Possible Strategies was introduced by the following quotation from Tacit: "Nothing is weaker or more unstable than a reputation which is not built on one’s own strength". It presented the main possibilities for development with illustrations, advantages and disadvantages, chances and risks, and finally the choices available. Discussions on these problems, needs, proposals, plans and choices available, help in developing alternative drafts and projects to organise space for the city and its roads/highways.

Finally, the project plan was devised after identifying the points on which the partners disagreed. Plans were compared, and concrete proposals were drawn up with a number of illustrations and drawings including architectural plans that covered town planning, landscaping and road laying aspects too. Even supervising services for several years were offered. It was only then that the final project was submitted. The aim of this project was to enable the different players in this area to devise sustainable cooperation strategies through joint work and solidarity. This document was introduced with a quotation from Léon Felipe that the decision-makers wanted to appropriate: "What’s important is not to arrive alone and early but to arrive together and on time’.

This collective involvement has already helped the city and other "communes" to reduce the space for "commercial area" in their plan documents for future, and to take into account certain aspects of urban diversity, other modes of transport including walking, to respect the relationship between heritage, culture, environment, identity and economy, and to associate yesterday’s enemies (political opponents, associations that fight for a cause). Our project plan has thus become the foundation for a common and shared culture on which discussions can be continued and a future can be built collectively.

* Ex-Manager of RESOPOLE, a network company for consultation and engineering in the field of sustainable development.

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History of RESOPOLE In 1991-92, a small group comprising civil servants, private consultants and academics from the Marseille region realised that in the case of problems related to development, especially sustainable development, involving economy, environment and society, there was no neutral and impartial public or private structure in France that could help create the necessary interface for promoting sustainable projects. The first association called RESOTOPIE (from "réseau" - network and "utopie" - utopia) was the result of this realisation. It later became "RESOTOPIE (from "entropie" - entropy). It was small and therefore flexible. It helped decision-makers to formulate proposals for coherent and durable projects, on a voluntary basis. In 1994, RESOTROPIE decided to join Villes et Territoires Méditerranéens, an association which was formed with its help. It was now time to go beyond speeches to take up concrete action in the field of sustainable development. For this purpose, an experiment called RESOPOLE was carried out for 2 years from 1996 to provide consulting and engineering services over a network. It adopted a multidisciplinary approach and was deliberately conducted under difficult conditions in order to test the economic feasibility of such a structure which was like a non-profit company. RESOPOLE filed its balance sheet on 31 August 1998 with a loss of about 10% of its turnover. Certain other reasons also led to the suspension of this operation. RESOPOLE confirmed that the vision of long-term "sustainable development" covering economic, environmental and social problems is of public interest. It requires, at least in France, the involvement of the State and public authorities. A small flexible unit is definitely more efficient. But, today, even while we wait for the status of "non-profit commercial enterprise", we should be able to manage this type of network within the structure of public bodies and associations with some help from the government.

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