The Impact of Decentralization on Urban Territorial Development

This study focused on the current state of the decentralization project within ETDs in the Congolese context. It therefore aimed to understand the decentralization context from an urban local development perspective. To this end, the research question, which served as a guideline for the present study, was as follows: How can decentralization be a strategic component of urban territorial development? To this end, based on the themes selected and the problem situations identified, this research followed the tradition of qualitative research, i.e. case studies, which enabled us to arrive at the following results: The gap between the texts of decentralization and their practice on urban territory, institutional mechanisms incapable of formulating responses to the demands of the governed, the conflicting physical and legal environment between ETD managers and the non-existence of a common vision between managers and the governed, but also, the difficulties linked to the operation of the retrocession system.