Citizen participation at the micro-community level: The case of the green alley projects in Quebec City: Fid-Bau Portal

Citizen participation at the micro-community level: The case of the green alley projects in Quebec City

Brazeau-Béliveau, Noémie / Cloutier, Geneviève

Abstract In public or political affairs, civic engagement in transitioning from institutional channels to less formal modes of participation, which have an immediate impact on the local space. For example, greening projects have emerged to address issues such as climate change or to challenge institutional urban planning and practices. These small-scale gardening and greening initiatives can be seen as a way to re-mobilize inhabitants and even involve them in urban planning. But is this the case? How do citizens frame their role and relationship with the public space, and in terms of the local administration? Also, NGOs and other groups acting as ‘mediators’ in the process facilitate civic action, but how do citizens feel about the actions of these facilitators? Based on an action-research project carried out in Quebec City (Quebec, Canada), we address what it means to take part in greening projects at a micro-scale. Using participant observations, 20 interviews, and field notes, we look at how such projects operate and evolve. The greening projects that were studied benefited from the support of the NGO, which acted as a facilitator throughout the process. This contextualized facilitation allowed the initiative to gain momentum socially, politically, and spatially.

Highlights • Citizen initiatives are visible and rooted in the living environment. • Citizen initiatives meet local aspirations for closer ties between residents. • There can be forms of social exclusion of different groups in such initiatives. • Support granted by the organization should continue after the projects are completed.