Les enjeux de la professionnalisation des agents de développement. L'ingénierie territoriale prise en étau entre les conceptions organique et mécaniste du développement territorial

This article connects the regulation mechanisms of territorial public action, to issues related to the professionalization of development agents, who are pivotal actors of territorial engineering. By entering into epistemic communities, they pave the way for a pragmatic regulation of public action. However, the competitive register of territorial excellence, coupled with new forms of bureaucratic controls, transform the ?project territories? into segments of policies implementation set by combining expertise and management agencies. As a result, the bureaucratic personality of development agents outweighs their role as animators for the local communities.