Publish at December 13 2022 Updated December 13 2022
"I like strange choices. I'm always interested in people who deviate from what is expected of them and go into new territory."
Cate Blanchett
There are several possible entrances to make territory learning. The first choice is to carry out projects in common between public, private or associative actors of the territory.It is possible to start from a local resource and unite to make it grow for the benefit of all.
Rehabilitating memories is an Interesting practice when the territory undergoes contradictory narratives of the past that block dialogue and initiatives between populations that clash in a latent way or that exhaust themselves in community conflicts. It is still possible to rehabilitate commons, goods, places, practices from the local tradition or culture that belong to all whether they are from an agricultural or industrial history.
Projects in common can start from different layers of the population of the territory for example it can be challenges carried by territorial public officials supported by their administrations or inscribed in a public policy of innovation. It can also be entrepreneurial challenges pushed by engineering management schools or companies or chambers of commerce that take charge of the economic development of the territory.
Associations can also give themselves cultural or social challenges that will generate excitement from the population of the villages and families all concerned with an event close to home, a music festival or the restoration of an old monument. Some associations for example the Réseaux d'Echanges Réciproques des Savoirs put forward the networking of actors in the service of common projects by relying on informal knowledge exchanges between inhabitants. They create recognition of knowledge and exchanges that give confidence in each person's ability to learn.
Starting with a local resource that abounds salt, wind, sun, water, stone and also waste. The resource is sometimes neglected, yet the oldest inhabitants knew how to take advantage of it. It is possible to transform a surplus into wealth following the example of a recyclery that transcends an invasion of useless objects into second-hand goods for the most modest. The project will not fail to create links between promoters who learn to unite around a common interest. And if we go further than a system of collection and redistribution, can they say create a catering service, food recovery or another idea to extend the initial impulse?
When there are local resources such as the sky, the wind, the sun, the stone or a natural site, it is then possible to use these resources to transcend them by activities that make sense around them, for example the creation of a cooperative energy creation. With the sun, we are witnessing the creation of cooperatives for the production of solar energy; all these projects are pretexts for uniting and learning together about technologies that are considered difficult or reserved for engineers. Placing oneself in the situation of learning to build a resource together or to use it for the benefit of all is a good way to create territory and go further.
The example of Vaux en Velin is interesting because the point of entry is the human resource. It is possible to work on the memories of people living on the same territory. The history of the territories is marked by their sometimes conflicting memories. A cultural action towards the old inhabitants, the elders, those who came from elsewhere to create wealth, for example uprooted miners or seasonal workers who stayed or migrants who settled, gives meaning and reactivates the imaginary. This, allows them to meet.
These memories are confronted with the memories of the native populations who have always stayed there and who have always welcomed people coming from afar, sometimes felt abandoned or downgraded. Sometimes these memories clash, sometimes they can communicate and mutually enrich each other when the opportunity arises and a space for encounter is created. When this mutual enrichment takes place through cultural or social encounters in places where people live, often around a meal or a party, this encourages learning. The whole of the populations makes territory. Chroniclers, amateur historians, storytellers, and enthusiasts of all kinds are the ferment of this learning ground because there is no learning territory without soil for knowledge to germinate.
Learning territories are also created by the dynamics and attention paid to their space, for example the defense of a natural heritage, a regional park, a mountain, a green space, an alignment of remarkable trees, a lake or a river. Around the bio valley in the Drôme, a philosophy of life is carried and a multitude of projects make sense. The river becomes the common thread, the link between actors, the common pride to be protected.
Some go further. The idea of bringing out the legal personality of the river obliges the inhabitants to dialogue and agree on the rights to be conferred to the river, the right not to be polluted, the right to flow freely, not to be hindered in its life and in its meanders,that the rights on its landscapes be defended. This development requires to agree on the uses of water, the maintenance of banks, the exploitation of what is precious. But also to designate representatives of the river as legal entities. Support points, innovation laboratory, fab-lab, associative café constitute relays for ideas to meet and for projects to mature.
Rehabilitating the commons means using the resources available in the territory to make projects. From these projects, people can learn from each other; for example, in the village of Frangouille, in the high cantons of Hérault, an association was created to rehabilitate the communal oven. This strengthens links between the inhabitants and has allowed them to learn together how to bake bread in the village and to give it back a soul, whereas until then everyone went to the supermarket to buy their baguette. From now on the common baking of bread is expected, for the pleasure of all.
There is no one way to make learning territory. Whether the initiatives come from public authorities, businesses, associations or schools, everything is good to unite the inhabitants to the success of a collective project. A learning territory is above all a territory of human links, a territory of projects.
The role of public authorities is certainly to help initiatives combine and make links between them
For example, an association may be passionate about rehabilitating road walls, old monuments; another may be interested in the development of a natural plant or mineral resource. Entrepreneurs may have an ambition to rehabilitate a wasteland, to develop trade or small industries, perhaps the public authorities can help and these different populations end up meeting, uniting and understanding what they have as objects in common.
Other ways to help territories learning to set up perhaps to have territory developers by taking people in charge of social innovation, cultural creators, people with a vision of the territory's potential able to finance and accompany sensitive stages of connecting these project holders, people with methodology to foster dialogue between actors.
Sometimes calls for projects requiring to unite to win the project can force meetings and bring a surplus of creativity. Sometimes human or financial digital resources made available to actors can help them in the formulation of their initiatives.
In all cases learning territories are territories of connection where what prevails is collective intelligence and the desire to put themselves at the service of the territory. Little by little, each person discovers the other and understands that he or she participates in a restorative community, that is, a community capable of manufacturing its future without depending on external subsidies.
The territory becomes aware that it is learning; it is advisable to organize times and meetings so that the actors perceive that their combined effects bring additional added value. These are parties, highlights, symposiums or forums, or everything that has been done is proudly highlighted.
Sources
RERS https://www.rers-asso.org/qu-est-ce-que-les-rers.htm
Recyclerie https://www.larecyclerie.com
River Legal
https://www.actu-environnement.com/ae/news/fleuves-personnalite-juridique-appel-rhone-seine-36127.php4#
Midi Libre At Frangouille the restored bread oven was inaugurated
https://www.midilibre.fr/2022/10/04/a-frangouille-le-four-a-pain-restaure-inaugure-10710602.php
Learning Territory Connection
https://tierslieux.anct.gouv.fr/fr/connexion-reaction-apprentissage-les-territoires-apprenants
Vaulx en velin directory of associations
https://vaulx-en-velin.net/sortir/vie-associative/annuaire-des-associations/memoires/
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