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This article defends the idea according to which it is not satisfactory any more to study the forms of governance of the French cities through the centre-periphery analytical framework. The devolution of new functions to urban governments, the transformations of capitalism and States policies have turned French cities from mere implementation spaces of public policies built at another level to central actors of the production of urban policies and strategies. The «horizontal» relationships linking the urban actors between them can be considered to be the first explanation of the scope and shapes of urban policies. Since then, it is legitimate to study urban governance and policies in French cities through theoretical tools which grant a primary role to the interactions between urban actors and groups and to the conflicts and coalitions in which they are involved. Among these theoretical tools, the approach in terms of urban regimes seems particularly promising.