Villeray in Transition: Citizen’s Appropriation of Inhabited Spaces Initiatives?
This article is concerned by citizens’ initiatives that take place in the context of dispossession related to the economic neoliberal globalization and through a transformation of the citizen’s relationship to politics. With the example of the transition initiatives, and more precisely the case of Villeray en transition (VET), the authors explore the theoretical frame of Citizens’ initiatives of appropriation of inhabited space and its social, symbolic and material dimensions. These new forms of initiatives are realized through relations to politics characterized by a bottom-up logic (in terms of citizen participation) and by an horizontal, reflexive and conscientizational approach of empowerment between citizens. It is the will to create a “better carbon-free neighbourhood” in a optimistic perspective and to develop a “local art of living” that bring citizens like those in VET to rethink their social practices of neighbourship and to create an inclusive network in Villeray. By the symbolical and social appropriation of the inhabited space, the citizens progressively transform the material practices of their neighbourhood.