Positioning oneself on the participatory democracy market to find one's place in the urban field: The quest for legitimacy of urban programming professionals

This article explores the relationship between the structuring of urban programming and the participatory imperative. First, it proposes to link the development that this activity is experiencing today with the growing enthusiasm of public authorities for participatory approaches in urban programming. It thus shows that the institutionalization of citizen participation has contributed to the emergence of calls for skills in the field of urban programming, and that professionals in this field have taken up the participatory issue to assert their place in the urban field. It then examines the upheavals that this positioning causes compared to other professional groups present in the participatory democracy market.