Problems and Purpose

Environmental problems (climate, biodiversity, pollution, etc.) are inherently global: they cross borders. But concrete solutions often emerge at a local level: a local authority that modifies its urban development plan, a neighborhood that sets up collective composting, an association that encourages waste reduction... The challenge therefore lies in the coordination between different initiatives at different territorial scales to promote the sharing of good practices, to avoid redundancies and contradictions, and to create a dynamic of emulation and mutual learning.

For several years, Métropole Rouen Normandie has carried out various actions such as the local COP21 or the Rouen Agreement, involving numerous municipalities in the territory in a common strategy aiming to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2050. In 2019, the Territorial Climate Air Energy Plan (PCAET) structured this dynamic at the metropolitan level, proposing a program of actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality, and adapt the territory to the effects of climate change. In addition to this, there are numerous local initiatives related to ecological transition as evidenced by the organization of citizens' conventions, for example. However, not all municipalities of the Métropole have the same resources or the same level of commitment, and some actions have remained symbolic. The Métropole has therefore identified a need to go further in multi-level governance and to involve citizens in it.

This is the whole point of the innovative process presented in this article: to change the paradigm in environmental governance, by promoting dialogue and the mobilization of all stakeholders in the territory to contribute to a global transformation. This unprecedented approach initially focused on the creation of a dialogue process allowing the articulation between citizens' conventions at different scales before expanding towards the deployment of actions in favor of the ecological transition. It was carried out and financed by Métropole Rouen Normandie and by the European PHOENIX project, which partnered through the consulting firm Res publica. PHOENIX aims to design democratic innovations that strengthen citizen participation in the implementation of the European Green Deal and pays particular attention to issues of multi-level governance.

Background History and Context

Métropole Rouen Normandie is an inter-municipal authority located in the Normandy region, in the northwest of France. It brings together 71 municipalities, including Rouen, which is the main urban center and institutional seat. Its territory is evenly divided between urban, forest, and agricultural areas. It has approximately 500,000 inhabitants, making it one of the most populated metropolises in the region. It exercises competencies in the following areas: mobility and transport; economic development; territorial planning and urbanism; waste management; water and sanitation; culture, heritage, and tourism.

The metropolis is crossed by the Seine, which makes it a strategic territory in terms of logistics and river transport, but also exposed to environmental issues, notably the risk of flooding and industrial pollution. Faced with climate change, it faces strong challenges in adapting its forests and its agricultural crops. Historically marked by strong industrialization (petrochemicals, logistics, port), the metropolis is today engaged in a transition towards a more sustainable model. It put in place from 2017 a dynamic of engagement of local actors around a territorial transition strategy called the “COP 21 Rouen Normandie”. In 2019, it adopted an ambitious action plan: its Climate Air Energy Territorial Plan (PCAET). By declaring a climate emergency in 2021, it strengthened its ambition with the aim of acting to protect the planet while improving the living environment of the territory's inhabitants.

The “Climate and Resilience” law of August 22, 2021, requires that planning documents integrate the objectives related to net zero artificialization by the end of 2026 for large-scale strategic planning documents (known as SCoT), and by the end of 2027 for local urban plans (PLUi). This law aims to better take into account the environmental consequences during construction and soil development, without neglecting the needs of the territories in terms of housing, infrastructure, and activities. Similarly, the low-carbon strategy defines a reduction trajectory for greenhouse gas emissions until 2050.

To respond to this new legal framework, the Métropole launched an ambitious approach, “Projet Rouen Métropole 2050”, allowing the definition of a roadmap and tools that will make it possible to reach the desired territory by the horizon of 2050. To carry out this work, after diagnostic phases, the Métropole conducted a consultation in 2024 on its vision of the future of its territory, involving the municipalities, the citizens, and the Sustainable Development Council of the Métropole. It notably conducted a citizen transition convention during this phase. In January 2025, Métropole Rouen Normandie launched COP Rouen 2030 with the objective of continuing and amplifying the dynamic of territorial mobilization (municipalities, businesses, citizens, associations...) around the Air Energy Climate action plan engaged in the framework of COP21 in 2017. It is on these bases that the various urban planning documents, including the SCoT (Territorial Coherence Scheme), the PCAET (Climate Air Energy Territorial Plan), and the PLUi (Intermunicipal Local Urban Plan), will be developed.

Organizing, Supporting, and Funding Entities

The design and implementation of this innovative process have been supported by the HORIZON project PHOENIX – The Rise of Citizen Voices for a Greener Europe (Grand Agreement ID: 101037328) through Res publica and by the Participation and Citizenship department of Métropole Rouen Normandie.

This unprecedented approach comprised two phases. The first, called by its members “Commission de Co-Construction” (Co-Construction Commission), consisted of forming a group of individuals from metropolitan citizens' conventions whose objective was to reflect on a dialogue process allowing the articulation between citizens' conventions at different scales. The preparation, facilitation, and reporting of these meetings were ensured by Res publica, with the participation of the Métropole.

Once the articulation mechanism was designed and called “Communauté des Conventions Citoyennes” (Community of Citizens' Conventions), the participants organized themselves to become ambassadors of the ecological transition in the metropolitan territory around major themes. The first two sessions were prepared, facilitated, and reported by Res publica. The Métropole supported the thematic groups in the implementation of actions in the field and took over from Res publica in facilitating the in-person meetings. It also had the role of proposing initiatives and making the group's actions visible at the metropolitan level.

Participant Recruitment and Selection

During the work of the “Commission de Co-Construction”, the members themselves decided on the composition of the “Communauté des Conventions Citoyennes”. They wished to automatically invite the members of the “Commission de Co-Construction”; the members of the “Assessment of the social and ecological transition” and “Climat change and regional planning” committees of the Conseil de Développement Durable (CDD), which is the body representing civil society in the Métropole; and the members of the metropolitan Citizens' Convention. The metropolitan Citizens' Convention brought together around a hundred participants over 5 sessions, between September 2023 and June 2024. During the session on 17-18 February 2024, members were invited to take part in the “Commission de Co-Construction”. They also wished for the participation of members of local conventions (Rouen Citizens' Convention; Petit-Quevilly Citizens' Convention; Maromme Citizens' Committee; Caudebec-lès-Elbeuf Citizens' Commission; Bois-Guillaume Citizens' Convention on town planning; Malaunay Energy Community; Bihorel Citizens' Ecological Committee) as well as the agents and elected officials who accompanied them. To do this, Métropole Rouen Normandie directly sent an email to the elected officials and agents involved to register and asked them to share the registration email with the members of the local conventions. The participants did not want to set a limit on the number of members of the “Communauté des Conventions Citoyennes”.

The articulation mechanism was not panel-based, even though some citizens' conventions were, such as the metropolitan convention, which had used criteria of age, gender balance, socio-professional category, and place of residence. However, there was a certain diversity in terms of gender, of categories of actors, and of citizens' conventions during the first session. Out of 34 volunteers, 18 were men and 17 were women; and 26 defined themselves as “citizen”, 3 as members of the CDD, 3 as agents of a municipality, and 2 as elected officials. Regarding the citizens' conventions, they were not all represented. A majority of the responses (18) indicated a link with the metropolitan citizens' convention, 5 with the Rouen citizens' convention, 4 with the Maromme citizens' committee, 1 with the Bois-Guillaume urban planning citizens' convention, and 5 had participated in other participatory processes not mentioned in the list.

Methods and Tools Used

The methods and tools used varied according to the stages of the process. To summarize:

1. Territorial Commission for Co-design: To create the ‘Community of Citizen’s Conventions’, Res publica and Métropole Rouen Normandie decided to create a group composed of members of citizens' conventions and the elected officials and technicians who accompanied them, as well as members of the Conseil de Développement Durable. Invitations were sent by the Métropole’s “Participation et Citoyenneté” department to the elected officials and technicians, who then forwarded them to the members of the citizens' conventions. Once formed, the group met three times in person and once by videoconference between June 2023 and January 2024 (01/06/23, 05/09/23, 28/11/23 and 08/01/24) for information sessions, co-construction, and discussions to design the “Community of Citizen’s Conventions”. Res publica applied the co-design method, which is the very essence of the Phoenix project and aims through this to accelerate the ecological transition. Res publica was responsible for supporting all partners in making the concept of co-design operational in their territory. This notion was translated, in the context of this innovative process, by a co-construction approach to the objectives, composition, means, and temporality of the ‘Community of Citizen’s Conventions’. From the first session, they wished to call themselves ‘Community of Citizen’s Conventions’. Co-design was facilitated by the attention paid by the Métropole and Res publica teams to the accessibility of information on the territorial project and its variations in urban planning documents, as well as to a horizontal posture allowing exchanges.
2. “Community of Citizen’s Conventions”: The members of the ‘Territorial Commission for Co-design’ (TCCD) had defined the objectives of the ‘Community of Citizen Conventions’ as being 1) to enable the sharing of knowledge, methods and good practice in terms of consultation and ecological transition, and 2) to act to accelerate the ecological transition by coordinating inter-municipal actions and improving the coordination of actions on a municipal and metropolitan scale.Operating under self-management, the members of the ‘Community of Citizen Conventions’ have decided to become ambassadors for the ecological transition, thus demonstrating their transition to action. In this process, a wide range of activities and tools were used to achieve the objectives of raising awareness and getting participants to take action.
3. Exhibition “ça chauffe” (it’s heating up), at the Pavillon des Transitions, is a fun, educational, and interactive exhibition aimed at a family audience to understand global warming, and know how to act (https://www.metropole-rouen-normandie.fr/sites/default/files/2024-32 01/Dossier-presse-exposition-climat.pdf)
4. Fresque de la Métropole (Metropolis Fresco): A serious game to understand the systemic issues of urban development, designed specifically for the metropolitan territory
5. Ateliers 2tonnes (2tonnes Workshops): The 2 tonnes workshop is an immersive and participatory workshop of approximately 3 hours, which allows participants to envision themselves in the ecological transition at an individual and collective level, by imagining a scenario for reducing their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 2 tonnes of CO₂e per year by 2050 (https://www.2tonnes.org/)

What Went On: Process, Interaction, and Participation

The “Communauté des Conventions Citoyennes” met for the first time on April 12, 2024, at the Pavillon des transitions in Rouen. Métropole Rouen Normandie, in its invitation questionnaire, had proposed to the members to visit the “ça chauffe” exhibition before the meeting to raise their awareness of climate change issues. In addition to the information given about the territorial project, the work of the “Commission de Co-Construction” was then presented, notably the main orientations. Regarding the axis of “participation in intermunicipal actions to accelerate the ecological transition”, the members had proposed to act in the territory by becoming ambassadors for composting, for the bicycle repair workshops, for the “ici remplissez votre gourde” (fill your water bottle here) initiative, for the Fresque de la Métropole (Métropole Fresco) for the 2050 territorial project, and for the “ça chauffe” exhibition. In accordance with the wishes of the “Commission de Co-Construction” to continue co-design, the 34 members of the “Communauté des Conventions Citoyennes” were able to vote on 3 priority actions among those presented previously or present new ones. The 3 actions that received the most votes were to become ambassadors for composting, for the bicycle repair workshops, and for the Fresque de la Métropole. The members then divided themselves into thematic groups and further explored their actions by answering the following questions: what questions does the action raise for us? How do we see our role as ambassadors on this subject? What do we need individually and collectively to become ambassadors? After this initial phase facilitated by Res publica, the groups were to implement their action. In this phase, they benefited from the support of Métropole Rouen Normandie to carry out training and obtain contacts.

The actions by working group between April and November 2024:

1. The composting ambassadors:
2. Training / awareness-raising: participation in two meetings to learn more about metropolitan waste policies and support mechanisms.
3. Actions carried out: participation in a survey on the choice of equipment in Rouen
4. The ambassadors for bicycle repair workshops:
5. Broadening the theme to cycling
6. Training / awareness-raising: participation in two meetings
7. The ambassadors of the Fresque de la Métropole (Métropole Fresco):
8. Training / awareness-raising: three training sessions offered by the Métropole between May and June 2024
9. Actions carried out: 11 murals organized in the territory between June and August 2024

After this fieldwork, the “Communauté des Conventions Citoyennes” met for the second time on November 5, 2024, at the premises of Métropole Rouen Normandie to take stock of the progress of the working groups and to ensure the sustainability of the approach. It brought together about fifteen participants. To mark the transition to action and for promotional purposes, the Métropole proposed new names for the “Communauté des Conventions Citoyennes” which were put to a vote, and it was renamed “les ambassadeur.rices de la transition écologique” (the ambassadors for the ecological transition). They then divided themselves into working groups to decide together on actions to continue and undertake; to share the difficulties encountered or potential obstacles in the implementation of actions; the needs and resources to overcome these obstacles; and the next steps in the work, with the designation of a volunteer to manage the group. As the groups had different levels of progress, the Métropole proposed actions for each of the groups. The members had the possibility to take them up if they wished. It also created a WhatsApp group allowing them to respond to the ambassadors' requests and to transmit all useful information to them. This tool also aims to allow the sharing of knowledge, methods, and good practices in terms of consultation and ecological transition between the members. Finally, the Métropole proposed to those who wished to register to participate in 2tonnes workshops.

The third session met on April 1, 2025, and was entirely facilitated by Métropole Rouen Normandie, without the support of Res publica.

Influence, Outcomes, and Effects

This unprecedented approach has fully achieved its stated objectives: it has made it possible to innovative process with a new form of governance associating citizens, agents, elected officials, and members of the “Conseil de Développement Durable”, from the design of an articulation mechanism to its implementation. The project has given a systemic scope to public action, by articulating scales, cross-referencing environmental issues, and training the actors involved.

Other notable results and effects can also be highlighted:

The dialogue mechanism allowing the articulation between citizens' conventions at different scales: By co-design, the “Commission de Co-Construction” designed the “Communauté des Conventions Citoyennes”. By the will of its members, the latter became “les ambassadeur.rices de la transition écologique”, embodying their commitment to this transition. They seized the work carried out by the “Commission de Co-Construction” to deploy coherent actions to respond to both metropolitan and local issues. They also communicate their difficulties and lessons learned at the metropolitan level. In return, the Métropole supports their actions, proposes initiatives and training. It mediatizes their actions to encourage a wider dynamic of engagement. The last session was entirely facilitated by the Métropole, without the support of Res publica (and therefore PHOENIX), thus demonstrating its usefulness.

More inclusive open governance: Having been engaged for several years in open governance approaches, Métropole Rouen Normandie has taken a new step with the PHOENIX project, which has brought a particular resonance by placing citizens at the heart of the process.

A share governance model that shifted roles and mindsets: For the first time, elected officials, service members, and citizens worked collectively during “la Commission de Co-Construction”. This unprecedented situation led to a change of posture for all these members: the elected officials put themselves in a listening position, the services could formulate proposals, the citizens could co-construct. The presence of the elected officials in the mechanism reinforced the legitimacy of the approach and brought knowledge of local and metropolitan governance. This collaborative framework, based on co-design, was widely welcomed by the participants, who emerged enriched by this unprecedented experience and with increased confidence in politics.

Empowering citizens to act in favour of ecological transition: During the “Communauté des Conventions Citoyennes”, the Métropole gave citizens the means to act whereas they are usually in a position of waiting for the decision. This transition to action helps to restore confidence in politics, manage eco-anxiety, and create social links.

Inspiring other initiatives: By involving a diversity of actors and allowing the upskilling of citizens, these experiences present numerous democratic benefits: restoration of trust in politics and elected officials, acceleration of decision-making, enrichment of proposals, embedding actions in the long term... The success of the approach with the Métropole could lead it to replicate this shared governance model in other fields of public policy and to multiply particip'action approaches.

Analysis and Lessons Learned

This innovative process in Rouen was analyzed through the lens of the four democratic goods as theorized by Graham Smith (2009): inclusiveness, popular control, considered judgment, and transparency. These provide a robust framework for assessing the democratic quality of participatory processes. Additionally, the reflections below incorporate certain issues specific to the PHOENIX project, in particular the challenges of scope, complexity and trust.

Each section highlights how the process addressed (or failed to address) these aspects, offering lessons for future participatory governance initiatives.

The impact of the innovative process on inclusiveness

To enable citizens to become “ambassadeur.rices de la transition écologique”, the Métropole proposed actions, supported them, and offered training or meetings. From the first session, participants were made aware of climate change issues through an exhibition. These initiatives responded to Challenge 2 Complexity of the PHOENIX project, which focuses on improving the understandability and manageability of complex and interrelated environmental issues.

Among the three groups formed, only the group focusing on the Fresque de la Métropole (Metropole’s fresco) undertook large-scale actions by holding 11 murals between the first two sessions. Their action helped to raise awareness among a wide audience, ranging from students to beneficiaries of local associations.

The other two groups encountered several obstacles: difficulty in identifying concrete actions, lack of political support, internal organizational problems, progressive demobilization... The second session helped to remobilize the participants present, to further structure their work, and to encourage exchanges between groups (creation of a WhatsApp group). Some members even offered their help.

The drivers of these collective dynamics were often people who, due to their professional backgrounds, had experience in implementing concrete actions. To strengthen inclusiveness and remove organizational obstacles, it would have been relevant to offer training in the ambassador role accompanied by an “action kit”: sample emails, practical guides for organizing an event, useful contacts, educational resources...

In addition, a decrease in participation was observed over the sessions, with a progressive overrepresentation of retirees. This phenomenon highlights the need for personalized support, especially to remobilize the most vulnerable or busiest people, in order to overcome natural dynamics (gender, exclusion...).

The impact of the innovative process on popular control

Initially named “Communauté des Conventions Citoyennes”, the “ambassadeur.rices de la transition écologique” gradually took ownership of the work of the “Commission de Co-Construction”. Its members voted for the themes in which they wished to invest themselves and undertook the transition to action themselves. Most of the chosen themes were consistent with tools and policies already supported by the Métropole. On the theme of cycling, they approached local associations to strengthen their actions. They thus played a role of relay between the initiatives of the associations and the Métropole.

However, all groups experienced a phase of demobilization, requiring support from the Métropole to relaunch their dynamic and propose new avenues for action. Even the group of ambassadors for the Fresque de la Métropole felt they had completed their mission at the end of the second session, having not identified new targets. In response, the Métropole suggested they take a training course to become ambassadors for the 2tonnes workshop.

This innovative process illustrates the importance of going beyond deliberation to make citizens ambassadors. The organizing structure must dedicate sufficient human resources to support them, communicate information to them, suggest ideas, and encourage them. It is also necessary to engage in upstream work on the subject in order to identify their room for maneuver and their invariants, that is to say, the elements on which they can exert a real influence. Once the actions have been carried out, it is finally necessary for the institutions to value their commitment as a sign of recognition.

The impact of the innovative process on considered judgment

Throughout this innovative process, efforts by the organizing teams were made to facilitate understanding of the issues related to climate change and the ecological transition in the metropolitan territory. In addition, the adoption of a horizontal posture and the incorporation of spaces for dialogue and expression in the course of the meetings fostered a climate of trust. These elements directly contributed to addressing Challenge 6 Trust of the PHOENIX project, which aims to increase mutual trust among the various participants.

Finally, the deliberation methods were particularly diverse, favoring collective reflection with plenary and sub-group sessions. In addition to all this, the citizens came from local citizens' conventions and had therefore previously had experience of deliberation.

During the fieldwork phase, the Fresque de la Métropole proved particularly relevant for raising awareness of climate change issues and encouraging deliberation regardless of the type of actor involved. This success highlights the crucial importance of adapting facilitation and awareness-raising tools to the specificities of territorial contexts, in order to maximize engagement and the relevance of exchanges.

The impact of the innovative process on transparency

Throughout the process, time was systematically devoted to clearly communicating the objectives and the process. Through co-design, participants were involved in all stages from the construction of the mechanism to its implementation. Minutes are taken at each meeting and sent to the ambassadors for the ecological transition. A WhatsApp group has been set up between the members and the Rouen Metropolis so that the latter can communicate any important information. This transparency strengthened the confidence of the participants and made the process easier to understand.

The impact of the innovative process on the long-term planning of the ecological transition

As part of its “Projet Rouen Métropole 2050”, the Métropole launched a vast consultation structured in several phases, leading to the development of planning tools. The PHOENIX innovative process, in parallel, allowed the emergence of a network of ambassadors not foreseen by the institution. The choice of these citizens to get involved in concrete short-term actions illustrates their need for tangible achievements to take ownership of issues that, on a long-term scale, can seem abstract or out of reach.

This broadening of the scope of intervention of the initial mechanism reveals a new lever for action in favor of the ecological transition for the Métropole, making it possible to reconcile immediate engagement with the long-term of planning. In doing so, it contributes to addressing Challenge 1 of the PHOENIX project, which consists in setting appropriate time-frame horizons for the policies and topics at stake. “Les ambassadeur.rices de la transition écologique”, by going into the field, will help contribute to the implementation of the Climate Air Energy Plan (PCAET).

This broadening also demonstrates the Métropole's capacity to show flexibility and openness in its governance, which demonstrates the importance of acculturating or training elected officials and services to a systemic vision of the ecological transition. By strengthening the agility of institutions in a logic of open governance, connections between the different existing projects are fostered.

Territorial Commission of Co-Design’s impact on the pilot process

The “Commission de Co-Construction” (i.e. Territorial Commission of Co-Design) co-constructed the objectives, composition, resources and timetable of the Community of Citizen Conventions.

The first meeting of the “Commission de Co-Construction” made it possible to define the main orientations of the “Communauté des Conventions Citoyennes” to allow articulation between citizens' conventions at different scales: sharing of knowledge, methods, and good practices on subjects of ecological transition; participation in intermunicipal actions to accelerate the ecological transition; and establishment of a network of citizen expertise on subjects related to consultation and participation. These axes were then further developed during the following session by the members: description, actors to involve, means of implementation, temporality. The last sessions made it possible to define the composition, the operating methods, the work program, and the deployment calendar of the “Communauté des Conventions Citoyennes”. An email was then sent to the involved actors by the Métropole to establish this new articulation mechanism.

Obstacles or challenges encountered in deploying the process

The obstacles and difficulties encountered concern the deployment of the ‘ambassadors for the ecological transition’ actions:

1. Gradual demobilisation of the groups: After the first session, a gradual demobilisation was observed within certain groups. To counter this, the second session of the ‘Community of Citizen Conventions’ enabled the participants to be re-motivated, their work to be more structured and exchanges between the groups to be encouraged. For example, the group of ambassadors for the Fresco de la Métropole felt that they had completed their mission after organising several frescoes. The Métropole suggested that they train to become ambassadors for the 2tonnes workshop, thus opening up new prospects for involvement. The creation of a WhatsApp group has also facilitated communication and the sharing of information between the groups and with Métropole.
2. Difficulty in identifying concrete actions: Some groups, such as the composting ambassadors and the bicycle repair workshops, found it difficult to define specific actions. Métropole Rouen Normandie then proposed new courses of action to get the groups moving again. In particular, the composting group took part in a meeting on the choice of equipment for the city of Rouen.

See Also

References

External Links

Notes