| Summary: | Two conurbations of the Great Manchester and the Ruhr (and more particularly the valley of Emscher) knew as from years 1960 of deep economic reorganizations related to the progressive stop of their traditional activities: textile industry and coal mining. In order to impel a new dynamics with these territories in crisis, the authorities made the choice of an economic redeployment which is based on policies of urban regeneration, in which culture has gradually a more and more determinant role. This article aims at comparing two examples of policies of urban regeneration and their territorial impact. The first impelled by the English government is based during very a long time on a liberal conception of town planning, aiming at recreating in the short term of the economic activity, while undervaluing social dimension. The second preached by the Land of the Rhineland of North-Westphalia develops a more ecological, cultural and patrimonial approach, while accepting a differed economic impact. These different perceptions of economic development have important consequences on the metropolitan cultural regeneration which privileged three axes: the opening of cultural equipments, the development of cultural industries and the “festivalisation” of the culture. In both cases, even if territorial impacts are very variable, they remain real and touch fields as various as revitalization of economy, improvement of the territory image or social integration.
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