Les stratégies municipales pour la transformation d'un mégaprojet en situation d'échec: le cas du site aéroportuaire de Mirabel au Québec

Abstract

Research on mega-projects gives minimal consideration to municipal stakeholders and the municipal level as a sphere of action, or to decision making about and adaptation to these projects. It is also only recently that attention has been paid to the duration of projects and the roles of a variety of stakeholders in their progression. Using writings on development paths and agency, we show that a project can be reinitiated after its failure. In addition to being just a phase of development during the life of the project, failure can be transformed into a window of opportunity to rethink the project and its governance and allow other stakeholders to take part in its transformation. Based on the case study of Mirabel airport, its failure and subsequent redevelopment, we studied the relationship between the development strategies implemented by the airport managers and those of the municipal stakeholders. We show that while the initial airport project profoundly disrupted the municipal territory of Mirabel, its transformation into an aeronautical industrial site is mostly perceived and supported positively by municipal stakeholders, having enabled a new dual trajectory of territorial and industrial development.