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For several years, French authorities – local and national institutions – have aimed to promote new processes of social regulation in order to fight against violence and to safeguard inhabitants in their cities, neighborhoods and communities. Social mediations thus emerged in urban areas along with the work of the police and justice. In this endeavor, the authors have implemented « psychosocial » experiments involving mayors, inhabitant associations and many city technicians. Presenting their work, they show that fight against daily violence represents a democratic challenge. They explain how they have been working during the 2002-2007 period and underline the results and the limitations of such an action.