NANTES INNOVATIVE CITY BY AND FOR ALL SYNTHESIS OF NANTES’APPLICATION TO ICAPITAL AWARDS 2019 iCapital 2019 NANTES EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF INNOVATION CITIZEN DIALOGUE «Innovation “by and for all“ is at the heart of our policies. IN NANTES: The iCapital award is a recognition of the quality of our citizen dialogue and the dynamism of our metropolitan innovation ecosystem.» INNOVATION Johanna ROLLAND Mayor of Nantes BY AND FOR ALL President of Nantes Métropole © Martial Ruaud Over recent decades, citizens’ trust in representative democracy Convinced that cities are where innovative solutions to the Focus has weakened as shown in abstention in polls all over Europe. biggest challenges can be found, Nantes has been working since 2014 to give its inhabitants the means to be more involved FROM At the same time, urban challenges are more acute and cannot PARTICIPATORY be solved only by public sector interventions any more. and made citizen dialogue the cornerstone of its action. By focusing on the intelligence and strength of collective ASSESSMENT Nantes Metropole responded to these new democratic action, Nantes aims to tangibly improve public policies and TO CITIZEN aspirations and major urban transitions issues urban processes through citizen-driven innovation. For each ASSESSORS decision, from the renovation of a square to the definition of a (democratic, energy, ageing, digital, social inclusion) Nantes is committed strategy for the energy transition, we onboard the expertise of by developing new ways of building the city based on to develop all users. Nantes participation culture aims to create a tailored citizen participation and innovation by all and for all. participatory and innovative city that is conceived by and for its residents, assessments and along with their needs, their uses and their solutions. Convinced that solutions can only be found and implemented provide volunteer with the commitment of all stakeholders and especially citizens with the citizens, Nantes has developed a vision and a practice of open tools, methods, governance to ingrain citizen dialogue and collaboration data and resources between stakeholders firmly in its public policies. needed to become Open governance assessors. This Many different citizen participation formats have been method enables the tested such as the Great Debate on energy transition for better public policies city’s experts to re- which involved over 50.000 participants and resulted in examine users needs 2018 in a shared roadmap on energy transition with 33 and expectations Summary ambitious commitments, monitored by an independent Early childhood, food and agriculture, foreign citizens, universal (including non-users) Commission composed of citizens and local stakeholders. access to public spaces, community life, etc. Half of Nantes’ on specific topics/ municipal and metropolitain public policies are brought to life in public policies, to Nantes also supports innovation in the private, non profit an open and collaborative mode through a continuous dialogue confirm or rebut and academics sectors through collaborative approaches and are developed in collaboration with citizens, associations and/ their views and and innovative mechanisms: “Creative factory” for cultural or experts brought together regularly in dedicated committees strategic options and creative industries, “French Tech Capital” for the digital moderated by the City. and to report results ecosystem, “Ecossolies” for social economy, “COTE” for energy with transparency. transition actors, are examples of hubs for innovation. Innovative A wide range of innovative methods are used in those committees: The citizen projects are boosted through initiatives such as eco-innovation citizen assessment, public hearings, nudge workshops, etc. but assessment process and social economy “factories” or Nantes City Lab which they all aim at implementing actions towards objectives that are on mobility at night facilitates the test of new solutions in real life. A dense network of discussed and shared. The public interest is built on the back of the was identified by the incubators, research, industrial and academics centres as well as French Parliament the many events organised make Nantes attractive for innovators. wide range of viewpoints and in a continuous dialogue between elected officials, stakeholders, technical experts and citizens. in 2018 as one of six successful and Nantes Metropole is strongly involved in European and innovative cases international networks which will help to share and of public policy disseminate its innovative experiences and know-how assessment. linked with citizen engagement and innovation. • P.2 Nantes innovative city by and for all Nantes innovative city by and for all • P.3 Great Debates to 2 collectively tackle major societal issues Made in Nantes, the Great Debate is an ambitious participatory approach implemented for strategic issues at the metropolitan level. It enables to raise a major topic of transition at the top of the agenda, to produce a shared forward-looking vision and roadmap for the future, with co-responsibility. Three Great Debates have been organized since 2014: «Nantes, the Loire and us», «Energy transition is up to us !» and «Longevity, let’s open up the possibilities for all». Focus THE GREAT DEBATE «ENERGY TRANSITION IS UP TO US!» This second Great Debate on energy transition included an unprecedented and innovative participation method called «the action debate». It aimed at responding to the democratic challenges of a greater citizen ownership of local energy issues. Citizens had highlighted that the climate challenge was not enough in itself to prompt action, that there was a need to instill a desire to act by clearly communicating the weight of experience and examples, in a practical and targeted way, but also and above all through human contact. Nantes wanted them to have the opportunity to have a direct hand in behavioural changes and solutions. To do this, a number of citizen groups received direct guidance in order to take action on their individual and collective “pathways”. In practical terms, 6 communities were formed (volunteer appeal, random draws etc.) offering 500 citizens the opportunity to experience transition for themselves. This Great Debate resulted in a shared roadmap on energy transition signed by the Metropolitain council in 2018, that sets up Nantes collective ambition based on three unique features: an energy transition that benefits 100% to citizens, that makes use of 100% of local renewable resources and that is 100% citizenled. These commitments are now monitored by an independent commission for energy transition, the COTE, set up by Nantes Metropole after the debate. The commission is made of 30 volunteers (citizens, experts, NGO members etc), along with two elected officials responsible for the roadmap. They meet every two months and are responsible for the development of independant metrics of success. The first results of the shared roadmap include an ambitious 100M€ plan for thermic renovation of social and private buildings, the doubling of renovation projects to tackle fuel poverty, one billion Main figures investment planned to reduce by 30 % car use by 2030, the creation of « the Office of the Earth» to support the development of 500 new projects by 2025, the involvement each year of 500 citizens in energy transition challenges (energy, waste, food). For example, Nantes Metropole supported a citizen investment project of a 500 kWp PV plant opened in 2019 financed thanks to the funding of 600 citizens. 760 160 270 The whole process provided major opportunities for citizens and stakeholders to innovate and 53.000 individual citizen collective stakeholders improve the resilience and sustainability of Nantes. participants contributions contributions involved 200 days of debate 33 co-constructed • P.4 Nantes innovative city by and for all commitments Nantes innovative city by and for all • P.5 User experience A public service 3 as the starting point 4 mission of urban planning Public policies that are constructed collaboratively with all stakeholders are more innovative, effective, fit-for-purpose > Tenders procedure involving citizens and less costly. Citizen dialogue is therefore considered as an 25 citizens were selected at random to form an independent panel investment and a public service mission with dedicated resources: associated to the tender procedures for two flagship projects an internal team of 12 citizen dialogue experts; a budget for citizen for urban centrality in Nantes - the «Ile de Nantes» and «Loire participation in each project; 100 city employees trained in citizen au coeur». After a year of competitive dialogue with elected dialogue each year and a new contributive online platform. officials, services, qualified individuals and the panel of citizens, international teams were able to develop responses that took into account the sensitive, pragmatic and non-expert view of citizens, offering officials the benefit of additional reasoned and impartial. Some figures Focus CITIZENS ARE INVOLVED IN MAJOR URBAN RENEWAL PROJECTS A WIDE RANGE such as “Island of Nantes” OF INNOVATIVE district. Leading a global CITIZEN approach of experimentation, SAMOA, the public agency 200 ENGAGEMENT responsible for the urban project METHODOLOGIES has put in place innovative citizen dialogue ways to imagine with citizens the future of this district. This approach is also supported by the processes World cafe (My city Tomorrow, Creative Factory