Multi-scaling for sustainability transition : the case of R-Urban in the Parisian suburb of Colombes

Abstract

The past fifty years have seen an increasing acknowledgment of global sustainability challenges as well as a growing desire to transition towards greater sustainability. The objective of this thesis is to explore the potential for linking global challenges and local actions associated with a multi-scale approach to sustainable development, through the investigation of the putatively multi-scale project R-Urban in the Parisian suburbs. To reach this objective, a six-months internship with the project's initiators was used as a mean to observe, interview stakeholders and analyse the literature associated with the project. The investigation revealed that what characterised R-Urban's multi-scale approach was its complexity and transversality, its involvement of various actors at different scales, and its conscious strategy to increase the breadth of its local initiatives through scaling-out rather than scaling-up. In terms of local experience of the project, key to bridging the gap between local and global was to frame the project around locally beneficial practices which also have the "side-effect" of positively contributing to tackling global challenges. Local participants, empowered by a process of experiential learning, thus became agents of change who themselves disseminated the practices appropriated, therefore scaling-out the initiative.