Description

Who's presenting the candidacy? 

The city of Hazebrouck (22,000 inhabitants in the department of Nord - France), represented by its participative democracy service, having already participated in the 17th OIDP conference in 2017 in Montreal submits the proposal in partnership with the association Empreintes Citoyennes who co-develops the following procedure.

What's the experience about? 

Since the beginning of 2018, the city of Hazebrouck and the association Empreintes Citoyennes have embarked on a process of creating a "Cities & Villages Citizen Label." The aim of this initiative is to consult residents, all over France, to ask them a question "What is a citizen city?" The first session gave rise to about 40 responses from inhabitants of Hazebrouck, immortalized by photos and writings on slates. This weekend, the participative democracy service of the city of Hazebrouck (Jonathan LARIVIERE and Sandra RIVOIRON) and the president of the association Empreintes citoyennes, Julien GOUPIL, traveled by scooter in the city of Hazebrouck, taking with them coffee and fruit juice to meet the locals and see their vision of a city that could be a citizen. From May to July, other meetings on the same principle will take place with people from different cities (size and location) to enrich the ideas already collected. At the same time, meetings with associations, political actors, technicians, institutions, alternative currents, academics, etc. will be organized to ask them what could be the criteria of a city or a village citizen. The whole of this approach should culminate in October with a proposal of different criteria that could be the roadmap for communities wishing to engage in the emancipation of citizenship and the development of the power to act. Those who would be interested could then be awarded the "cities & towns citizens" label. 

Why is it innovative? 

The idea of co-building a label that allows itself to promote participation and co-construction seems to be innovative in itself. Beyond this aspect, the creation of a label that enhances the value of communities and citizens who commit is a real innovation. 
The creation of this label does not exist in France. This approach also makes it possible to give a road map to the communities that would like to engage in the development of citizen participation but who do not know where to start. The idea of a label makes it possible to value the cities and the citizens who commit themselves.