Territorial and cooperative approaches to ecological transition: French cases and implications for the Ruhr

Margaux BLACHE, Fleur DEPERRAZ, Sophie KRAUS, Clémence MARTEL, Marguerite MATOUSSOWSKY & Maïder OLIVIER, students from the master Governing Ecological Transitions in European Cities, realised a group project for 9 months with Emschergenossenschaft and Lippeverband (EGLV), a public sector entity of water management.

EGLV has been one of the driving force for the ecological transition in the Ruhr region, in Germany, for more than thirty years. It has been assigned by the government of North Rhine-Westphalia to steer objective of the Ruhr-Konferenz “A climate-resilient region with an international appeal”. In the light of this ambition, EGLV has engaged together with the regional partners in the project Zukunftsinitiative “Water in the city of tomorrow” (ZI). For this cooperative framework EGLV seeks for a new model of cooperation that would enable an ambitious and efficient ecological transition, especially regarding the adaptation to climate change, including substantial citizens' participation and effective collaboration with and among the municipalities.

>Launching this project, EGLV has asked the students to look at modes of governance of the ecological transition adapted to the Ruhr region.
Therefore, a compared analyses of four selected French projects dealing with ecological transition(s) were carried out: Eau de Paris, Enercoop, Association des Acteurs de Biovallée® (Association of Stakeholders of Biovallée®) and La Fabrique des Transition (FDT, ‘Transitions Factory’). The case studies have been selected to illustrate various aspects of ecological transition and models of cooperation, at different scales and with different modes of action.

The analysis grid resulting from this framework which was applied first to EGLV project and the case studies tries to answer to five questions:

• Transition pathway: What transition is carried out in the project?
• Stakeholders: Who is involved, why are they involved, and which interest do they pursue?
• Governance: How are they organised and integrated in a transition perspective?
• Story: What story does the project convey, where does it come from and who can it address to?
• Sustainability: How can the project be sustained in the long term?

Based on these inspiring cases studies and completing literature, the final report of the students formulate conclusive remarks and recommendations for Emschergenossenschaft and Lippeverband (EGLV) and the Zukunftsinitiative (ZI).

Read the report