Ecotransition stories is a Erasmus + funded project of cooperation between four European structures. Below, you find the description of the project, as well as the context and the objectives of our mission. We explain where we are coming from, where are we aiming and why.
Global context of the project / Why ?
Since 1992 and the Earth Summit in Rio, scientists have been constantly warning about the state of our planet and, despite this absolute urgency, we still do not see the trends being reversed (evolution of biodiversity, energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, etc.), nor do we see behavioural changes commensurate with what is needed to achieve the planetary objectives.
Throughout the world, people in precarious situations are and will be the most exposed to climate and environmental changes and their consequences. In the priority neighbourhoods, many actors are making progress on these issues with the inhabitants, but most often these are one-off actions involving a small number of people. The ecological issue in the broad sense seems difficult to address with people whose priority is obviously socio-economic.
The transition is often perceived as being a matter for engineers, industrial innovations and reports. But calibrated and formal discourses are not enough to bring about socio-cultural change. We absolutely need to explore new paths, to enchant the ecological transition, to build new narratives by involving all inhabitants in their cultural and social diversity.
The project
Ecotransition Stories is a cooperation project between four European organisations, that is implemented within the framework of Erasmus + partnership conducted between November 2021 and December 2023.
The consortium consists of four partner organisations – the Artefacts Cooperative (the coordinating structure), based in Tours, the E-35 Foundation from Reggio Emilia, the EuroVertice consultancy agency from Murcia and the Polytechnic Institute of Porto.
The objective of the project is to develop and test a new working methodology, based on cooperation and the narrative approach, (as proposed by the Fabrique des Transitions) in order to achieve a real change of scale in the ecological transition.
This work will be carried out in three territories that were considered to fit the definition of «priority neighbourhood» despite the national and local disparities between designations, demography, land occupation and social problems. More specifically, in France, in the Sanitas district of the city of Tours, in Italy, in the Carozzone district of Reggio Emilia and in Spain, in Lorqui, an autonomous community of Murcia.
Operationally, it is a question of working with and for the actors on the ground, to enable them to increase their skills and use the tool of narrative approach and the lever of ecological transition to initiate virtuous changes within the neighbourhood.
The project should answer the following questions:
- How can the ecological transition be an opportunity to improve the living conditions of the inhabitants of priority neighbourhoods?
- What narratives can enable the most exposed and most precarious populations to seize this opportunity of the ecological transition in order to improve their living conditions in a sustainable way?
With this project, we want to apply the methodology of transitional narrative approach, specifically adapted to the constraints of priority neighbourhoods. This project should allow all the inhabitants and actors of these neighbourhoods to rely on tools developed, adapted and tested thanks to this partnership.
We hope that those most at risk will be able to find ways, collectively, to organise their resilience in the face of climate and environmental emergencies. This project is intended to promote the inclusion of all public on the issues of ecological transition, by equipping the actors who work with them on a daily basis.
The choice of the “narrative approach” tool is a way of addressing all inhabitants in all their cultural and social diversity, and invites the widest possible participation without any specific prerequisites. In this case, our project is aimed directly at adults who are themselves involved in adult education in the neighbourhoods. One of the main objectives is to make them become more competent and participate in the co-construction of results.
Our project aims to accelerate the ecological transition in the priority neighbourhoods of the European Union and contribute to the sustainable improvement of the living conditions of vulnerable populations.
The participating structures (the consortium and its local partners) are involved in a collaborative process of tools’ development, adaptation and testing, which is structured in two main phases.
The first phase is a study phase (11/2021-10/2022), which consists of gaining a better understanding of the relationship between the inhabitants of the priority neighbourhoods and the challenges of ecological transition. This is a sociological survey, in conjunction with the actors and inhabitants of three neighbourhoods involved. Under the coordination of the IPP, the survey is carried out in parallel in Sanitas, Carozzone and Lorqui.
The final result of this cross survey is a Study Report which highlights the levers and brakes that characterise these territories, whatever the country, to accelerate the ecological transition thanks to the narrative approach tool.
The second phase (11.2022 – 12.2023) is a co-construction of a methodological guide which is inspired by the theoretical framework of the narrative appraoch and the practical experience of the Fabrique des Transitions and adapts it to the dynamics of the priority districts identified in the study phase. It is the actors of Carozzone, Lorqui and Sanitas who will co-construct and evaluate the tools (activities, animations etc.) proposed in the guide.
The general objective is to provide all local authorities, actors and inhabitants of priority neighbourhoods in Europe with a complete methodological guide, with variations according to the specificities of the territories. This guide, associated with a toolbox, will be the result of work deeply rooted in the field and carried out by the people who work daily in the neighbourhoods.
Beyond the methodology, the project will create or reinforce a collective and transversal dynamic in the heart of the neighbourhoods, a desire to act with new perspectives and shared and friendly objectives. There is a strong demand throughout Europe to see the emergence of new avenues for social transformation, so that the territories can finally take hold of these urgent issues in a sustainable way and see the ecological transition as a real opportunity to reinvent themselves collectively and positively.
