Who governs big Indian cities today, and for whom? This question has arisen, since the early '90s, in the context of an environment transformed by the policies of economic liberalization and political and administrative decentralization that were then launched by the Indian government, and also by globalization.

We propose to describe and analyze urban governance, as it is being redefined in this new politico-economic scenario, through a study of the decision making processes pertaining to the supply and demand of five collective goods and services (health, education, PDS, water and sanitation, slum development) in four Indian metropolises: Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kolkata. In order to assess the reality of the decentralization process, which is in principle at the heart of this new configuration, the above mentioned sectorial case studies will be supplemented, in at least two of the above mentioned cities, by studies focusing on the relations between various levels of government (Centre, State, municipal corporation). These studies will lay emphasis on some major counter-currents, such as the increasing metropolization of urban management, the means given to MLAs and MPs to act locally, and the role that the judiciary is taking over on this matter.

The project will address three main issues :

• Firstly, beyond the redistribution of competences effected by liberalization and decentralization, how is the decision making power effectively distributed among the multiple actors (civil society, private companies, sectorial agencies, local administration, local representatives, State governments) now involved in the management of urban affairs? What are the modalities of coordination used by actors with one another, but also within each institution? What are the negotiation mechanisms, both formal and informal?

• Secondly, what is the impact of this new urban governance as far as the access of various social groups to collective goods and services is concerned? In other words, how can one characterize the social distribution of the costs and benefits of the reconfiguration currently taking place? We will study the impact of participative methods of infrastructure production and management, in order to determine who benefits from the new pluralism in decision-making, and how the latter is being implemented. We will also observe the spatial dimension of the said redistribution of competences (for it is a factor of segregation), by assessing to what extent the studied cities are being « irrigated » by physical and social infrastructure networks, and therefore to what extent we can expect them to avoid the "urban fragmentation" process, which is observed in a large number of countries, both in the North and in the South [1]. Our hypothesis is that comparing services with contrasting characteristics (network services versus localised services, situation of natural monopoly versus situation of competition...) will give a finer image of the factors of segregation of urban spaces.

• Thirdly, how can one characterize the demand for urban infrastructures? What are the respective priorities, on this matter, of the various groups? Which types of demand are the most likely to be heard? This part of the project involves, on one hand, to deconstruct the notion of civil society (even though the demand also stems from other actors, for example international organizations), by listing the types of organizations and individuals who represent it, the forums in which they intervene effectively, and the nature of their interventions. How is civil society mobilized? Through which channels of expression is it represented? To what extent are those forums in which it is invited effective means to filter its expression? Identifying and classifying the expectations of the concerned actors with respect to liberalization and decentralization involves, on the other hand, defining the reference system of these policies, i.e. their «intellectual content» (diagnosis of problems, values, general norms of action, definition of the role of the State and the instruments that it must privilege)[2].

[1] See F. NAVEZ-BOUCHANINE (Dir.), La fragmentation en question : des villes entre fragmentation spatiale et fragmentation sociale ?, Paris, L'Harmattan, 2002
[2] B.PALIER, "Mondialisation et réformes des politiques sociales: le rôle des institutions internationales", conférence présentée le 12 février 2003 à l'Université de Montréal".