L’INVENTION DES TERRITOIRES DIRECTS PAR LES GENS ORDINAIRES

par Bruno Caillet et Xavier Comtesse

“Ce livre interroge la mutation des territoires sous l’effet des TIC conjugué aux conséquences de la « glocalisation » et des nouvelles participations (multi stakeholders). Il visite implicitement l’évolution récente de la gouvernance des territoires de plus en plus questionnée et prise en charge par des acteurs nouveaux issus des organisations non gouvernementales, des entreprises ou de la société civile.”

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Nouveaux territoires, nouveaux pouvoirs, nouvelle gouvernance

image : Arts numériques, Tendances, Artistes, Lieux & Festivals 26 septembre 2008
La mutation des territoires sous l’effet des TIC conjugué aux conséquences de la « glocalisation » et des nouvelles participations, définit de nouveaux espaces qui remettent en cause notre rapport au matériel et à l’immatériel, notamment parce ce sont de nouveaux espaces de pouvoir qui offrent de nouvelles opportunités de coopération, mais aussi de concurrence, voire d’affrontement. Ces territoires directs sont un enjeu démocratique nécessitant une gouvernance adaptée à leur particularité dont la plus évidente est d’être déconnectés de toute assise géographique classique.

Summary

“Where the material meets the immaterial at the most basic level is in the house, where it is now possible to navigate between the physical and the virtual space, to be in many locations at once. And therefore this is where we should look to define new territories we live in, looking at the use of the space in the house and how it creates new infrastructure requirements to better serve individuals and the community around them.

New territories – immaterial:
To foster the participation that people have come to expect, we need to implement the following:
- direct economy: involving the consumer in the value chain
- direct knowledge: involving the student in the learning process
- direct content: involving the user in the production of content
- e-government: online access to public document and online transactions
- ubiquitous connectivity: wifi or wimax everywhere
- geotags: virtual tags for physical places
- digital spaces: internet cafes, creative corners
- techno-squares: technology in public spaces
- new services: for example digital books allowing shared comments and notes
- Thinktanks open to citizens
- Digital governance: joint efforts involving multiple stakeholders from the public and private sector, managed in total transparency

Meeting these new requirements create challenges on the government side:
- grassroot power vs hierarchy
- bridging the digital gap
- government as a process rather than a solution
- from enforcement to engagement
- re-defining the role of politicians
- measuring intangibles
- re-emphasizing culture

More specifically government must foster participation through the following:
- manage change
- map the various existing layers on top of the new territories
- establish common values
- push for results
- get stakeholders buy-in
- establish a core group before allowing others interested players into the conversation
- favor a pragmatic approach rather than a decision process based on ideology
- share best practices across the various new territories
- measure progress and results

To conclude, the emergence of new territories creates the need for an evolution from democracy as we know it to participative democracy, with an unavoidable overlap between the 2 systems while they coexist, which will create tensions. But rather than deregulation, it calls for a redefinition of the role of government and of the culture we share.”

(source : Direct Territories “Open Business”, Marc Dangeard)