TRP France Spring-Summer 2024: Project Information Form – The Regenesis Institute for Regenerative Practice

Your Name	Olivier Scheffer
TRP Cohort Assignment	France with In-Person Intensive, Spring-Summer 2024
Study Cohort Members	Céline Robert, Marine Adam, Gabriela Buettner, Isabelle Delannoy, Olivier Scheffer
Working Title of The Project (which we will use to refer to it throughout the series)	Roubaix en transition
Project Location	Roubaix, France
Nature of The Project (e.g. building, new community, economic development, etc.)	A neighbourhood project (Le Trichon) based on social innovation, founded 15 years ago by l'Université Populaire Citoyenne, with several components: - an industrial wasteland being rehabilitated in the form of shared gardens - a passive house restaurant, Baraka [Pierre Wolf, journalist and eco-activist], which has become a cooperative and a coworking space - a citizens' grocery shop, also a cooperative (El Cagette), with 500 members The story began in 2010 (?) at the initiative of Pierre Wolf, in the form of neighbourhood meals, After the community grocery shop burnt down, the co-operators raised €500k to buy a school, where they were able to set up a street theatre and a sewing workshop. A neighbourhood newspaper (L'entraide) keeps the local community informed and involved in initiatives such as greening facades by distributing sunflower seeds and removing paving stones from the foot of buildings. They are currently developing a shared rental housing project.
Why do you think this project is appropriate for the course assignment?	1. An examplary ecological and social innovation project that has been well established for 15 years, with real ecological and social ambitions 2. A complex project led by intellectuals, but which the working-class district in which it is located has not taken on board as much as expected
Additional Useful Information	- multiple social innovation activities (catering, housing, culture, entertainment, urban agriculture, etc.) - underground’ cultural roots, imaginary of transition, degrowth - a dynamic project, undergoing metamorphosis in a spirit of solidarity in the face of major challenges - a project not based on a regenerative intention, but with regenerative outcomes BUT - a project conceived by intellectuals (teachers, trade unionists, former political party activists) - - a project that has not been appropriated by local popular culture - at the heart of a working-class neighbourhood, close to a North African immigrant neighbourhood, but not all that inclusive...
Date Created	April 30, 2024