The rate at which industrialisation has occurred in the Québec City region in recent years does not correspond to the rythm at which planned facilities have been made available. Land destined for industrial development is abundant, but the rate of occupancy is low indeed. Vast amounts of space which do not fit the needs for which they are eventually to be used, an aluminium processing plant which raises the ire of the citizenry, a municipal conception of development destined to bring about the dispersal of projects with accompanying lack of integration, and, finally, the absence of democratic discussion of proposed projects represent but a few of the facets of the regional industrial reality. They illustrate the need to democratize the use of space, i.e., to first of all get it out of the hands of manipulators who presently hold it. In this new context, the role of the citizen should be brought to the fore. This, of course, assumes on the part of technocrats and researchers a questioning of their traditional approaches.