For more than 15 years, the French central state has been creating urban development authorities (Établissements publics d’aménagement, EPAs hereafter) in a series of major core cities (e.g. Marseille, Saint-Etienne, Bordeaux, Nice) and in several areas on the outskirts of Paris. Created by State decree and formally controlled by central ministries, these authorities are in charge of large flagship urban development projects mixing infrastructure, office development and housing programmes. To this end, they have been given formal authority over landuse regulation and negotiations with property and development interests, thereby bypassing local governments.