Citizendev. L’expérimentation d’un projet co-créatif à Bruxelles

Abstract

This article presents an experiment in Participatory Action Research (PAR), entitled ‘Citizendev’, funded by a Brussels research programme inspired by co-creation and based on the tools of ‘Livings-labs’. Stimulated by the concept of « popular centrality » (Rosa Bonheur 2019), Citizendev experimented with a form of community-based urban development, based on the creation of citizen collectives in working-class neighbourhoods, sharing their needs, resources and know-how. After presenting the experiment, its objectives and methodologies, the article looks at the physical and relational proximity to which researchers, associations and citizens are bound in these Living Labs. Secondly, it examines the potential tension between the proximity inherent in the approach and the challenges of replicability and transferability to other territories and scales.

Keywords

• participatory action research
• co-creation
• citizen involvement
• proximity
• community social work
• popular centrality