ABSTRACT
The provision of infrastructure by developers and/or builders is at the same time a very ancient practice and a constantly evolving one. A city requires a mixture of infrastructure services in order to ensure that development goes ahead and to ensure that the development functions effectively. In any system of provision for public services, there are only three sources of finance: the taxpayer (national or local) ; the developer (and eventually the purchaser of the building) or the landowner. The question of how the cost of provision is to be split between these actors has informed debate in France as it has in other countries. This chapter will examine the methods used to ensure that adequate infrastructure for development is secured in France and how those costs are allocated. In France a variety of methods exist for securing infrastructure costs from the private sector. While some of these methods have been long-established, others have emerged relatively recently . As in other countries, such as Great Britain, the state has required that the private sector take up a greater share of the costs for a wide variety of infrastructure types. In France this requirement was accompanied by a change in the organisation of the planning system following the decentralisation of local government in the 1 980s. The timing of the decentral isation followed a long period of urban growth from the 1 950s to the 1 980s. The number of new dwellings, for example, grew from I 00,000 per annum in 1 950 to a peak of 540,000 in 1 974 and has since declined to 300,000 since then . These factors underlie changes to the operation of the planning system. Central government has been concerned to ensure that the planning system is firstly responsive to the needs of development and secondly that the costs of infrastructure provision are covered. In order to address the question of infrastructure provision and who pays for what and how much they pay, it is necessary first of all to understand the operation of the French planning system following the decentralisation reforms and thus to appreciate the importance of negotiative practices in the reformed system. Then we must return to addressing the issue of who pays. Here we consider the actors who could be potential ly involved in some detail in order to determine their relevance to the French system. The next step is to identify the procedural devices used to secure infrastructure costs. Here the variety of the means avai lable is described with an evaluation of their operation in practice.
