Abstract
The French government addressed the question of sustainability transitions by organizing a national debate on energy transition at the end of 2012, driven by the Ministry of Ecology. The transition motif has also been taken up by local and grassroots actors and initiatives trying to converge in a cohesive society project. These two strands of transitions, one institutional, directed in a ‘top-down’ manner, and another, a grassroots or ‘bottom-up’ sort, question the potential for a dialogue to emerge between these two dynamics and their respective actors.
This chapter draws on the case of Montreuil, the fourth most populous suburb of Paris, involved in a transition management process from 2011 to 2014 as part of the elaboration of its Local Climate Plan. Based on a 2-years’ participant observation within the project team, the aim is to describe the adaptation of transition management to the French political context and to explore the possibility of ‘hybridisations’ between ‘regime’ and ‘niche’ actors—between their roles, relations, and cultures.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
See the National Debate on Energy Transition, the creation of the National Council for Ecological Transition and the National Strategy for an Ecological Transition Toward a Sustainable Development steered by the Ministry of Ecology (MEDDE 2014).
- 2.
‘Incommensurability’ is a translation of ‘incommensurabilité’, which is a neologism forged by Chateauraynaud (2013).
References
Argyris C, Schön DA (1974) Theory in practice: increasing professional effectiveness. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco
Arnstein S (1969) A ladder of citizen participation. J Am Inst Plann 35(4):216–224
ATTAC (2013) Petit manuel de la transition: pour toutes celles et ceux qui aimeraient mais doutent qu’un autre monde soit possible. les Liens qui libèrent, Paris
Avelino F (2011) Power in transitions. Empowering discourses on sustainability transitions. PhD dissertation. Rotterdam University
Avelino F, Rotmans J (2009) Power in transition: an interdisciplinary framework to study power in relation to structural change. Eur J Soc Theory 12:543–569. doi:10.1177/1368431009349830
Boulanger PM (2008) Une gouvernance du changement sociétal: le transition management. Rev Nouv 11:61–73
Chateauraynaud F (2013) La radicalité est-elle soluble dans l’argumentation ? La sociologie des controverses et l’endogénéisation de la critique sociale. Paper presented at the doctoral seminar Fructis Arc, Liege University, 17 Apr 2013
Demoulin J, Tribout S (2014) Construire des espaces de réflexivité pour analyser et transformer les pratiques professionnelles: un travail de légitimation, ¿Interrogations? 19
Frémeaux P, Lalucq A, Kalinowski W (2013) Transition écologique, mode d’emploi. Les Petits Matins, Paris
Gorz A (2008) Écologica. Galilée, Paris
Grandjean A, Le Teno H, Hulot N (2014) Miser (vraiment) sur la transition écologique. Les Ed. de l’Atelier, Paris
Grin J, Rotmans J, Schot J et al (2010) Transitions to sustainable development: new directions in the study of long term transformative change. Routledge, New York
Hendriks CM, Grin J (2007) Contextualizing reflexive governance: the politics of Dutch transitions to sustainability. J Environ Policy Amp Plan 9:333–350. doi:10.1080/15239080701622790
Hopwood B, Mellor M, O’Brien G (2005) Sustainable development: mapping different approaches. Sustain Dev 13:38–52. doi:10.1002/sd.244
Kemp R, Loorbach D (2006) Transition management: a reflexive governance approach. In: Voss JP, Bauknecht D, Kemp R (eds) Reflexive governance for sustainable development. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham
Laclau E, Mouffe C (2001) Hegemony and socialist strategy: towards a radical democratic politics. Royaume-Uni, London
Meadowcroft J (2011) Engaging with the politics of sustainability transitions. Environ Innov Soc Transit 1:70–75. doi:10.1016/j.eist.2011.02.003
Nez H (2012) Nature et légitimités des savoirs citoyens dans l’urbanisme participatif. Une enquête ethnographique à Paris. Sociologie 2:387–404. doi:10.3917/socio.024.0387
Paredis E (2013) A winding road. Transition management, policy change and the search for sustainable development. PhD dissertation. Universiteit Gent
Robinson J (2004) Squaring the circle? Some thoughts on the idea of sustainable development. Ecol Econ 48:369–384
Rumpala Y (2013) Sur les possiblités d’une transition écologique “par le bas”: vers une théorie post-gouvernementale. Paper presented at the workshop “Développement durable et ‘acceptabilité sociale’”. Paris Val de Seine Architecture School, 15 Feb 2013
Schäpke N, Omann I, Mock MM et al (2013) Supporting sustainability transitions by enhancing the human dimension via empowerment, social learning and social capital. Proceedings of the SCORAI Europe workshops, Rotterdam, 7–8 Oct 2013
Seyfang G, Smith A (2007) Grassroots innovations for sustainable development: towards a new research and policy agenda. Environ Polit 16:584–603. doi:10.1080/09644010701419121
Sintomer Y, Blondiaux L (2002) L’impératif délibératif. Politix 15:17–35. doi:10.3406/polix.2002.1205
Soulé B (2007) Observation participante ou participation observante ? Usages et justifications de la notion de participation observante en sciences sociales. Rech Qual 27:127–140
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer Japan
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Krauz, A. (2016). Transition Management in Montreuil: Towards Perspectives of Hybridisation Between ‘Top-Down’ and ‘Bottom-Up’ Transitions. In: Loorbach, D., Wittmayer, J., Shiroyama, H., Fujino, J., Mizuguchi, S. (eds) Governance of Urban Sustainability Transitions. Theory and Practice of Urban Sustainability Transitions. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-55426-4_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-55426-4_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo
Print ISBN: 978-4-431-55425-7
Online ISBN: 978-4-431-55426-4
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)