The 2019 Conference of the French and British Planning Study Group, The Governance of Metropolises and City Regions: Territorial Reforms, Spatial Imaginaries and New Forms of Cooperation, Tours Polytechnic, Tours, 11–12 April 2019

The issues of metropolitan governance are currently at the center of political and research priorities in many countries. Reflecting this context, the theme of the 2019 conference of the French and British Planning Studies Group held in Tours was the Governance of Metropolises and City Regions: Territorial Reforms, Spatial Imaginaries and New Forms of Cooperation. The conference was organized by the Cities, Territories, Environment and Societies research center (University of Tours-Centre national de la recherché scientifique) with support from the French government (Plan urbanisme construction architecture), Tours metropole Val de Loire, the Association of European Schools of Planning and Association pour la promotion de l'enseignement et de la recherche en aménagement et urbanisme. The main aim of the conference was to facilitate an interdisciplinary comparative debate on the institutional and spatial dynamics of metropolitan areas and their governance in the UK and France.