The trends toward both decentralization and globalization are making it necessary to rethink the place of the French capital in the country as a whole and the relationships between Paris and the Ile de France. There is a total lack of harmony between the unity and compactness of the central metropolitan area and the segmentation of the political authorities and competences. In order to give a new dynamism to economic competitiveness, to fight against social exclusion and to make the city more human, it would be necessary not so much to alter the institutional map as to regroup the local authorities around a strong project likely to stir them into action.