Background and objectives
Since September 2022, the Canton of Geneva has launched an ambitious initiative for the cross-border territory: Greater Geneva in Transition. In particular, the development of a Cross-Border Territorial Vision aims to imagine and design the development of the territory of Greater Geneva by 2050 by considering all aspects of this vast territory: nature, environment, landscape, urbanisation, mobility, etc. This initiative is supported by the partners of Greater Geneva: The French Geneva Metropolitan Pole, the Nyon Region and the Canton of Geneva)
The objective of the consultation process is to provide input for the 2050 Cross-Border Territorial Vision and, ultimately, for the various plans and roadmaps of the institutions (public policies and urban planning). For the Greater Geneva partners, it is necessary to integrate into the development of this vision the experience of life and use of those who live and work in the Greater Geneva metropolitan area. And by the same token, to create a synergy to give local actors the desire to make a lasting commitment to the ecological transition. After having accompanied Greater Geneva on a first consultation process within the framework of Greater Geneva in Transition, it is on this specific aspect of the Cross-border Territorial Vision that we are accompanying Grand Genève.
Terms of the mission
In partnership with the teams of the Canton of Geneva, the district of Nyon and the French Genevan Metropolitan Pole, Missions Publiques pilots the different stages of the project:
- 8 citizen workshops
The citizens’ workshops took place in 8 municipalities in the territory of Greater Geneva between 24 April and 11 May 2023. Structured in two parts: an informative part and a contributory part, the workshops enabled the participants to receive common information on the Cross-Border Territorial Vision and the issues at the metropolitan level, then, depending on the location of the workshop, detailed information on the issues at the PACA level and a presentation of the territorial focuses on which the technical teams are waiting for citizens’ contributions. The contribution part was punctuated by several stages: elaboration of individual proposals, round table discussion and prioritisation of the different proposals from the table, in-depth collective work on the two prioritised proposals. The proposals of the participants were elaborated in the light of specific territorial issues, themes and focuses addressed in the presentations of each of the workshops in order to match the needs of each territory and to best support the technicians working on the elaboration of the Cross-Border Territorial Vision.
- The monitoring group
The monitoring group, composed of both citizens involved in the citizen workshops and citizens who participated in the first consultation within the framework of Greater Geneva in Transition, was mobilised on 24 May 2023. The objective : validate the synthesis of the citizens’ contributions and formulate of key messages for the technicians and decision-makers. This synthesis was presented to the institutional partners of Greater Geneva and to the technical representatives who, on the basis of this material, are deepening their work on the Cross-Border Territorial Vision. The material produced by the citizens will be made public and can also be used by other institutional actors in the development of different master plans and public policies. 10 ambassadors have been selected from this monitoring group to participate in the technical workshops in September 2023.
- Technical workshops
From 12 to 21 September 2023, a series of technical workshops will be held in the territory during which the multidisciplinary teams working at the scale of the four territories of Greater Geneva will present the state of progress of their work and will put the matter under discussion with experts and representatives of associations and politicians. The ambassadors of the citizen monitoring group will be able to attend and participate in these meetings to bring the voice of the citizens of Greater Geneva. Our teams will accompany them in the preparation and conduct of these meetings.
Key figures
Added value of the approach
The Cross-border Territorial Vision Concertation process is being played out on a particular scale: focusing on local levers of action to accelerate the ecological transition, it has the specificity of being in a cross-border region with different life realities. The desire not to centralise the approach, but to go as close as possible to the places where people live (thanks to the organisation of workshops in different places) enables a wide range of realities to be captured that make up this wider living area. The approach will thus make it possible to feed the technical urban planning document that is the Cross-Border Territorial Vision with sensitive data, life experiences and the wishes of the inhabitants and users for their territory.
One of the specificities of the approach also lies in the desire not to gather the views of citizens in silos, so the Greater Geneva partners are also working to integrate the views of associations and private actors.
