Accompany the mutation of an industrial city into sustainable industrial city: engineering of the territorial prospective to strengthen citizen and institutional empowerment. Pascale GONTIER

1. Accompanying the transformation of an industrial city into a
sustainable city: territorial prospective workshops to
strengthen citizen and institutional empowerment
INTI
Conference
Huelva 2013
21st-22nd
November
Social
Innovation and
new ways of
governance for
Pascale Gontier

2. 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

3. 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
Outaouais river
Montréal, Québec, canada
100kms
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
100kms

4. 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

6. 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.

7. 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)

8. Workshop 3 :
Locating and drawing the typology of spaces
Positioning the projects in progress to evaluate space coherence

9. Hypothèses
pour l’analyse
Matériel
produit
Radar de
la rurbanité
Capacité de
transformation
Scénario 1
Scénario 2
Intentions
exprimées
Prochaines
étapes
Capability of transforming the territory : Utilitarian and coexistence spaces

10. Hypothèses
pour l’aalyse
Matériel
produit
Radar de
la rurbanité
Capacité de
transformation
Scénario 1
Scénario 2
Intentions
exprimées
Prochaines
étapes
Capability of transforming the territory : Escape and coexistence spaces

11. Workshop 3: Transfer of the structural geography assumptions
Rurality and urbanity markers
Rurality markers
The utilitarian perception of the landscapes is
dominating
Importance of monofunctional spaces
( production-settlement)
Few aesthetic landscapes are enhanced
Few escape spaces (attractive)
Coexistence spaces for mixed use under the influence of
utilitarian spaces
Sedentary populations because of economic activity
or affordable accomodation
A vulnerable and hardly diversified economy
A rather homogeneous population
A little replacement of the populations
Little 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
Urbanity markers
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 spaces
Sedentary populations motivate by the environment
A diversified economy in transformation
Population turnover( motivated nomads)
An increasing property value
« A territory where you want to be »
An innovative territory with a good capability of
transformation

12. Workshop 3: Stage 4
Looking for urbanity and rurality signs to complete the rurbanity
pattern

13. The rurbanity pattern

14. Scenario1
Hawkesbury, my past, my reality: an industrial and commercial
suburban city

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

16. 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

17. 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

18. Bibliography
•
AkricheM, Callon M, Latour B(2006). Sociologie de la tarduction, textes fondateurs, Presse de l’école des mines.
•
Bacqué MH, Biewener Carole (2013) L’empowerment une pratique émancipatrice, La découverte.
•
Callon M, Lascoume P, Barthes Y (2001). Agir dans un monde incertain, Seuil, la couleur des idées.
•
Cauvin C, (2002)« Cognitive and cartographic representations : towars acomprensiv approach » URL http:www.cybergeo.eu/index194.htlm.
•
Desmarais G, Richtot G(2000). La géographie structurale, l’Harmattan.
•
Gagnon S (2002). L’échiquier touristique québécois, PUQ.
•
Gagnon S (2009). Le rôle de la spatialité dans l’organisation des territoires, guide de géomatique structurale, LabMIT.
•
Godet M (2007). Manuel de prospective stratégique. Tome 1 : une indiscipline intellectuelle ; Tome 2 : l’art et la méthode DUNOD
•
Gontier P, Lardon S, Loudiyi S (2008).Utiliser les représentations spatiales pour analyser son territoire: une formation-action pour le développement
territorial. Colloque ASRDLF Rimouski, Québec, Canada.
•
Gontier P (2011). La didactique du changement territorial pour un territoire apprenant. Conférence pour le colloque « Intelligence, communication,
ingénierie territoriale pour penser ensemble le développement des territoires ». Gatineau, Québec, Canada octobre 2011(
http://wwwlabmit.org/itgatineau2011/).
•
Jambes JP (2009). Territoires apprenants, esquisse pour le développement local du 21° siècle, l’Harmattan.