The phenomenon of metropolisation is often studied on a metropolitan scale, presented as a coherent urban whole, even though numerous studies document the constant increase in urban socio-spatial inequalities. This paper proposes to discuss the notion of the metropolitan district, based on the hypothesis that certain districts are more strongly affected by metropolitan dynamics than others. In this sense, we conceptualise the notion of intra-metropolitan transition that certain intra-urban areas undergo. These areas would be 'appropriated' by public action mechanisms and discourses at all the levels that make up the metropolis under study. These levels include all the decentralised actors (municipalities, inter-municipalities, départements, metropolitan EPCIs), as well as the various emanations of the State (agencies, decentralised services, central administrations and ministerial cabinets). In this respect, we discuss the fact that 'metropolitan districts' territorialise intra-state conflicts, which focus in particular on the production of housing by public establishments backed by property developers.