"Searching for the Grand Paris" "How has the relationship between Paris and its suburbs evolved since the '60s?" -The law from 10th July 1964 was a significant event in the history of the Paris-suburbs relationship because, simply, it put an end to the Grand Paris experiment, the Grand Paris invented in the early 20th century, which had, evidently, demonstrated an amount of success, as showed by the densification of public service networks in this metropolitan area. On 10th June 1964, for reasons which will become clear, the Gaullist state decides to bring an end to this political, urban, social, and economic experiment, which is original and unique, at least in France. Why? Firstly, because Paul Delouvrier, a senior official, a financial inspector, who managed the Paris regional district in 1961, which is what would later become Regional Council of Ile-de-France, determined that in a region, the Parisian region, there cannot be two great powers such as these. The metropolitan power, that of the Grand Paris, with its government, focused around the Seine general council, also with its own administration in the form of the Seine prefect, the Seine prefecture and its technical and administrative services. And a region, a region that did not yet exist, which was only a district, and that intended to impose itself on the whole area. This reform of 1964 shows considerations we could describe as being partisan considerations and they were not only supported by administrative considerations. Finally, there is a third consideration, the fate in store, until now, for the outer suburbs. The outer suburbs, meaning the Seine-et-Oise department. The Seine-et-Oise comprised around 700 communes, not quite, but near to 700 communes and was the poorest area in this Parisian region. It did not benefit from these policies of equalization and solidarity which had, until now, essentially served the interests of the inner suburbs, those which formed, along with Paris, the Seine department. So, this Seine-et-Oise area, which was an isolated area, an under-managed area, an under-equipped area, aspired, in a way, to be integrated into the metropolitan dynamic and benefit from this. And so, abolishing the Métropole du Grand Paris was also supposed to serve the interests of these outer suburbs which, until now, had been the poor cousin of these systems of solidarity that I mentioned, which had largely benefitted the capital city departments, namely the Seine department. It is important to remember, with regard to this fundamental 1964 reform, that this departmental reform, which followed on from the creation of districts, created a united front of all the elected representatives from Grand Paris, communists, socialists, radical socialists, conservatives, including Gaullists, from both the city and the suburbs, in support of a clear refusal of this reform, of these successive reforms, because they believed in preserving the Grand Paris. Except this campaign from the officials is not listened to by central government. We should also note that even the prefectural body, and in particular the prefects of the Seine, which was considered almost a state within a state, as a ministry, because of its power which was recognized universally... Alongside this, we are reminded of Hausmann, who was prominent within this institution. Even this prefectural body was very cautious of the Grand Paris members. At the same time, paradoxically, the Gaullist state envisaged a government for provincial urban areas, in creating, some years later, in 1966, the urban communities. For example, urban communities in Strasbourg, Lyon, Lille, and Bordeaux. They were created in a discretionary way, but this came back to the idea that the state could support local authorities. But of course, this local authority was refused in Paris, although, until then, it seemed that it had proved itself. I would say that its refusal was due to the geopolitics and ratio of power at the time. The regime of the Fifth Republic sought to reinforce regionalization, meaning the district of Paris, the regional district of Paris, to the detriment of the capital city and the suburbs, the inner suburbs, which formed this Grand Paris from the early 20th century onwards.