Going to the global real estate marketplace ; Fréquenter le maché immobilier global ; Going to the global real estate marketplace: A comparison of two French city governments at Mipim ; Fréquenter le maché immobilier global: Une comparaison de deux gouvernements urbains au Mipim

Abstract

Document de travail du LATTS - Working Paper, n°17-2 ; Over the past decade, many city governments have increasingly joined property developers, service providers, and investors on real estate trade fairs. The Marché international des professionnels de l'immobilier (Mipim), where policymakers and planners showcase their localities and major flagship projects that they seek to promote towards these professionals, is a case in point. This paper compares two city governments who have been regular attendees despite their opposition on the political spectrum, namely the municipality of Saint-Ouen located in the Paris city-region, and the Grand Lyon metropolitan authority. Based on an empirical research on their participation to Mipim, it shows that both local delegations seek to sell real estate opportunities on the global real estate market, but not with the same priority. Additionally, there are differences in terms of organisation: the Grand Lyon delegation is based on a coalition between the metropolitan mayor and economic development department with local real estate brokers and developers, whereas Saint-Ouen's elected officials rely on the intermediation of the district authority. This generated divergent outcomes over urbanism insofar that the conversion of policymakers to the strategies and criteria of investors to which they have thus been exposed is stronger in the Grand Lyon case. The paper therefore makes a twofold contribution to urban studies. First, it demonstrates that real estate fairs are key infrastructures in the financialisation of the urban built environment through the circulation of investors' expectations. Second, to the extent that this conversion does not only unfold in situ, it explains why and how real estate fairs need to be re-embedded into the wider urban development policies and politics. ; Au cours de la dernière décennie, de nombreux gouvernements urbains ont rejoint les promoteurs, investisseurs et autres fournisseurs de services sur les salons immobiliers. C'est tout ...