ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the context of a project for improving the Place Lazare-Goujon in the centre of Villeurbanne, one of the communes of the Lyon conurbation. It describes a piece of action-research with the cooperation of the public authorities involved, the commune of Villeurbanne and the communaute urbaine of Lyon, who allowed the research team to attend working sessions as well as public meetings. The project involved the commune of Villeurbanne, Greater Lyon and the Agence d’Urbanisme de Lyon. The car park project involved three organisations: the commune of Villeurbanne; Greater Lyon and the car park operator. The planning agency, aware of the project underway in Villeurbanne, favoured using the project as a pilot for setting up a participation resources centre that they would lead on Greater Lyon’s behalf. A public exhibition was held in the entrance hall of the town hall at Villeurbanne from 20 May to 30 June 2003, between the two rounds of the selection process.
