What kind of economic development do we have to give up, and what new ideal do we want to move towards? What are the questions facing tomorrow’s economic developers? What can local authorities do to fork out towards models that are more respectful of our planetary limits and conducive to a more shared social contract? What levers can be activated to bring about new approaches and a transformation of the way things are done in French local authorities?
A little over two years after the start of the program, what have we learned about these questions, the starting points for our action-research approach? An initial survey phase enabled us to document 8 paradigm shifts that we believe are necessary for a new approach to economic development, reoriented towards the goals of ecological transition and social justice.
In the second phase of the program, we tested the real conditions for these paradigm shifts with our partner local authorities, in very concrete terms: How should we rethink training for economic development? How can we design a more systemic approach to land use, or a different relationship to business location? What new forms of governance are needed to support the contribution of economic players to regional resilience? How can we work more effectively with research to cooperate on the long-term needs and dependencies of a region?
From these tests, we have drawn a series of lessons for economic developers, elected representatives, training providers and networks. Read all about it in this latest Rebonds! deliverable.
To access the online deliverable, click here
And to download a printable version, click here