CNRS - Nantes, France

apply before November 28, 2023

The thesis is funded as part of the European “Circular grassroots” project, coordinated by the University of Gothenburg, winner of the “Driving Urban Transition” call. The project aims to examine the challenges and opportunities that circular urban innovations face in creating, maintaining and extending their solutions for sustainable and inclusive transitions from a grassroots approach. Cities are spaces of over-consumption, waste-intensive production and high environmental footprints, but also centers of creativity and innovation. Citizens are experimenting with a multitude of innovations to meet the challenge of ever-increasing consumption and over-exploitation of resources. Despite their contributions, further research is needed to investigate the challenges and opportunities for disseminating these practices in terms of 1) space (access to multifunctional public/private spaces in central/peri-urban neighborhoods), 2) collaborative and democratic arenas between local government, urban planners and grassroots organizations, 3) inclusivity and scalability of community initiatives (challenges to meeting their ambitions, growing, replicating and extending their sharing/circularity practices).

Circular grassroots: what are the challenges and opportunities for disseminating urban circular citizen innovation practices in terms of space, collaboration and inclusion in Nantes?

The objectives of the PhD are to:

1. Spatial dimension: to identify the characteristics, interests, practices and spatialization of food, urban agriculture, bio-waste management and food waste reduction initiatives in relation to the problems of access to land that are so critical in the ecosystem of the Ile de Nantes and Bellevue districts.
2. Dimension of collaborative arenas: assess the challenges and opportunities for collaboration in the ecosystem through alliances, coalitions and cooperation between initiatives and with public authorities. In particular, identifying existing and potential bridges between initiatives and Nantes Métropole’s local food and biowaste policies.
3. Inclusivity and scalability dimension: examining the scalability conditions and inclusivity of grassroots circular economies 1) Identifying different sensitivities, socio-political movements and interpersonal pathways; 2) Identifying local needs for the social, spatial and multi-actor expansion of the emerging circular economy “local food and bio-waste”; 3) Identifying local needs for the social, spatial and multi-actor expansion of the emerging circular economy “local food and bio-waste”.

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