The shift in French regional policy toward focussing more squarely on strengthening territorial competitiveness while maintaining national cohesion poses some major challenges of governance. Do policymakers involved with territorial development have coherent and effective powers, financial resources and experience? In particular, can they support the urban dynamics that are apparent not only in Ile-de-France but in many provincial territories? Can they help better-endowed rural territories to undertake competitive development projects? These are the questions facing public officials who, since the early 1980s, have seen profound changes in terms of decentralisation and in the relations between levels of government...