Accompanying the transformation of an industrial city into a sustainable city: territorial

prospective workshops to strengthen citizen and institutional empowermentINTI

Conference

Huelva 2013

21st-22nd

November

Social Innovation and new ways of

governance for the socio-

ecological transition

Pascale Gontier

A research and training action in the town of Hawkesbury,

Ontario, Canada

A consortium of research and training for action

• UQO, LabMIT Serge Gagnon / expert diagnosis

• The Cégep de l'Outaouais, CerTIT Pascale Gontier / expert diagnosis, workshops, strategic plan

• A cooperative of territorial development, the anvil / strategic plan

A prospective approach applied from March 2012 to September 2013

 

The city of Hawkesbury Formatting context ( Contextualization )

- A trading area and services for the region.- A city that has lost its major industries but maintains a diversified industrial zone- A rich city,but neglected, getting depopulated and impoverished.- A city in a rural country where large farms dominate.- A city with a working-class tradition losing its identity

 Montréal, Québec,

canada 100kms

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 100kms

Outaouais river

The expectations of the town councillors

Getting a scientific territory diagnosis for their planning documents

Developing the capability of the community to project itself into the future :

Involving the community in a participatory approach to understand the issues for the territory and build a shared vision of urban development by 2030

Methodological proposal

• Proposing a simple diagram of applied prospective to anchor a prospective attitude in the community

• Implementation of the method to analyze the spatial dynamics of structural geography in the workshops

• Using spatial representations and heuristic cards as tools for expert and lay knowledge mediation.

 

Workshop 3: Transfer of the structural geography assumptions

 

Every territory consists in spaces in tension for the location of activities and mobility of people

Every territory is marked by dynamics of urbanity and rurality which influence the way it can be transformed: indicators of rurality strengthen tradition, urbanity indicators promote innovation

The dynamics of rurality and urbanity are influenced by the cultural perception of landscapes converted into uses of the territory, property rules and local governance

Three types of landscape influence the occupation and development of the territory: aesthetic landscapes (escape spaces), utilities (functional spaces) and coexistence (mixed spaces)

Workshop 3 : Locating and drawing the typology of spaces

Positioning the projects in progress to evaluate space coherence

Capability of transforming the territory : Utilitarian and coexistence spaces

Hypothèses pour

l’analyse

Matériel produit

Capacité de transformation

Radar de la

rurbanitéScénario 1 Scénario 2

Intentions exprimées

Prochaines étapes

Capability of transforming the territory : Escape and coexistence spaces

Hypothèses pour l’aalyse

Matériel produit

Capacité de transformation

Radar de la

rurbanitéScénario 1 Scénario 2

Intentions exprimées

Prochaines étapes

Workshop 3: Transfer of the structural geography assumptions

Rurality and urbanity markers

Rurality markers Urbanity markersThe utilitarian perception of the landscapes is dominatingImportance of monofunctional spaces ( production-settlement)Few aesthetic landscapes are enhancedFew escape spaces (attractive)Coexistence spaces for mixed use under the influence of utilitarian spaces Sedentary populations because of economic activity or affordable accomodationA vulnerable and hardly diversified economyA rather homogeneous populationA little replacement of the populationsLittle property value

«  A territory where you have to be  »

A territory of tradition which can hardly be transformed unless you act on the way utilitarian spaces are perceived

Value of aesthetic landscapes (natural and patrimony)Importance of the escape spaces (attractive)Importance of the multi-functional coexistence spaces under influence of the valued aesthetic spaces Controled utilitarian spacesSedentary populations motivate by the environmentA diversified economy in transformationPopulation turnover( motivated nomads)An increasing property value

«  A territory where you want to be »

An innovative territory with a good capability of transformation

Workshop 3: Stage 4 Looking for urbanity and rurality signs to complete the

rurbanity pattern

The rurbanity pattern

Scenario1 Hawkesbury, my past, my reality: an industrial and

commercial suburban city

Scenario 2The city on piles, the future borne by tradition

In conclusion….« They didn’t know that it was impossible then they do

it »

Marc Twain (1835-1910) The IT transfer:

A training and a methodical progression to become an actor of the community:

• The appropriation of the prospective process

• The acquisition of concepts and a method of analysis of complexity

• A visual trace of the work

A bilateral valorization of work

The researcher, an actor of the transformation

Institutional empowerment?A question to the leader of the town of Hawkesbury

« In my opinion lines have already begun to move just by the fact of this exercise. The future is the guarantor of the effort that was put by us people in this document.

People have asked a popular follow-up that will be included in the application procedure. So now the lines will move if it is shown that management and the Board are committed to make the living document on an annual basis. »

René Berthiaume, mayor of Hawkesbury

2013 November 8 th

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