Bruno BOURG-BROC: “Intermunicipal cooperation is a key asset for medium-sized cities
Bruno Bourg-Broc has long been involved in public action: he was a member of parliament for more than 25 years, a member of some 20 study groups on such issues as street art, intermunicipal cooperation and adoption, and is an ardent promoter of the French language. He is also Mayor of Châlons-en-Champagne, a city of 47,000 inhabitants in north-eastern France. He has long loved public action. Here he shares with us his life as an elected official and explains why he wanted his city to be involved in an URBACT project.
Since he became mayor, Bruno Borug-Broc’s motto has been pragmatism: “when I became mayor in 1995, my perspective on society changed: I am constantly looking for consensus in order to best manage the issues in the field.†He explains, furthermore, that for 15 years, Châlons has been facing two major urban development challenges: on one hand, avoiding urban sprawl as constructions develop in surrounding areas, and on the other, boosting the city centre.
As a result, the city led an overall city centre development plan, which renovated built heritage, set up semi-pedestrianized areas, built a new shopping area, new housing, offices, and a new theatre, established a street art festival, and is home to one of twelve municipal libraries being given a regional dimension. “We want to stimulate economic activity in the entire municipality to create new jobs and attract new inhabitants.â€
Shared issues, different cultures
In 2001, Bruno Bourg-Broc became chairman of the French Federation of Mayors of Medium-sized Cities (FMVM ), which groups together 178 mayors of cities with 20,000 to 100,000 inhabitants. The federation works on issues linked to inter-communal cooperation, among other things. Of medium-sized French cities, 95% are committed to this type of approach, with several objectives: fostering local development, rationalising the use of competencies and developing services for citizens.
Several URBACT projects focus on local urban development, which is notably the case of CityRegion.Net, in which Châlons-en-Champagne is a partner. “I learned about URBACT when I became involved in the FMVM, and I decided to get my city involved. I believe that to strengthen Europe, it is indispensable today to share experiences and take the time to discuss shared issues with other European cities with different cultures.â€
Bruno Bourg-Broc also expresses a very specific expectation from the exchanges with the 8 CityRegion.Net partners: “identifying good practices for putting together public/private partnerships for inter-municipal projects: these will help us rebuild our exhibition centre.†This exemplifies the reason behind URBACT: facilitating the realisation of actual urban development projects.