3 Questions to Christophe Besson-Léaud, President of Alliance Sens & Economie
TF - What problems does the Microville 112 address?
CBL - A territorial co-development fabrique, like the Microville 112, is a solution to several issues:
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The reuse of wastelands, with eco-renovation of the premises (0 carbon, 0 waste, positive energy, biosourced materials and reuse);
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The stimulation of local development, in circular economy and short circuits;
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The cooperation of actors who make the territory (companies, associations, social entrepreneurs, public and academic actors) to co-construct solutions from the ground;
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Public-private partnership governance, capable of carrying out structuring projects without being subject to the vagaries of elections and short-term power games.
For the past 20 years, wastelands have been developing and medium-sized cities have been depopulated in favor of metropolitan areas. At the same time, local businesses have been weakened by the deindustrialization of France and the economic and health crises. Finally, private, associative, public and academic actors operate in silos, which prevents the scaling up of development models in circular economy and short circuits, which are based on cooperation and pooling of means to create economic, social and environmental value.
TF - How does the Microville 112 concretely address these issues?
CBL - The Microville 112 is the prototype of the "territorial co-development fabrique".
A fabrique is simply a company for the transformation of the territory with an economic model based on the exploitation of the real estate patrimony, which it reactivates.
The members of a fabrique are the actors who make up the territory: companies, associations, local authorities and researchers.
It is a profitable enterprise whose real estate profits are reinvested to finance the local coordination team and shared development resources. Therefore, it accelerates the transformation and development of local industries, in the circular economy, in short circuits and through the use of digital technology.
TF - What would be the ideal scenario for the diffusion of the fabriques?
CBL - In an ideal world, the diffusion of territorial co-development fabriques would be ensured by a public-private investment platform to finance - at the request of territories - engineering and real estate rehabilitation of fabriques.
This platform would launch calls for projects by region to enable medium-sized cities and provincial inter-municipalities to set up co-development fabriques on their land. This investment platform would be financed by the Banque des Territoires and impact funds (socially responsible investors).
Those 3 questions were written following the Transition Forum Call for Expressions of Interest. Microville 112 is part of the top 20 selected projects.
