Port planning and debate. Views of stakeholders on major port infrastructure projects of the French coast

Port planning mainly consists of the construction of new equipments adapted to the evolution of ships and shipping traffic. In France, it was the exclusive domain of the engineers from the French Civil Engineering School (Ponts et Chaussees), who planned transport infrastructure according to technical-financial parameters. However, since the mid-1990's, new demands from local populations regarding environmental concerns and quality of life, as well as the increase of conflicts relating to land use, have resulted in the French legislator establishing public debates about important infrastructure projects, to compare the different points of view of the project owners, the local populations, the politiciansa before making decisions.Original Abstract: L'amenagement portuaire est en grande partie centre sur l'offre de nouveaux equipements adaptes a l'evolution des navires et des trafics. Il a longtemps ete en France le domaine reserve des ingenieurs des Ponts et Chaussees qui concevaient les infrastructures de transport en fonction de parametres technico-financiers. Mais depuis le milieu des annees 1990, les nouvelles exigences des populations locales en termes d'environnement et de qualite de vie, parallelement a la multiplication des conflits d'usage, ont amene le legislateur a soumettre au debat public les projets d'infrastructure les plus importants, afin de confronter les points de vue des maitres d'ouvrage, des populations, des elusa avant la prise de decision.