Introduced by the Grand Paris Act of June 2010, the purpose of Territorial Development Contracts (Contrats de développement territorial or CDT) is to set targets for housing construction, economic development and public facilities in areas around the future automatic metro stations. They take the form of contractual agreements between the state and the municipalities concerned. The 2010 law initially attracted opposition from local politicians, who saw it as a move towards recentralisation. Based on the study of two CDTs in the new town of Marne-la-Vallée, this article gives a more qualified picture of this perceived move towards recentralisation, showing that local officials use CDTs as a means to promote local priorities and exercise influence on the Grand Paris project.