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Although land management was a government concern at the time of Vichy, it was not formally organized until 1963. DATAR (Délégation interministérielle à l’aménagement du territoire et à l’attractivité régionale – (Delegation for Territorial Planning and Regional Action) was set up so as not to get in the way of existing institutions. Before becoming a bureaucracy, it was a light structure with considerable authority, soon weakening as the administration passed from one ministry to another. Yet DATAR remained creative and innovative, pulling its weight indirectly by means of foresight, encouragement, and assistance, but never finding favor with government policies. Was it an administration with a purpose and what was its role in land planning? DATAR was a true political and administrative entrepreneur, a leader of change in administrative practices, its modes of action moving in parallel with the state. It tended toward centralization in a centralized state and became more of a negotiator and more open to governance in the context of decentralization.