A third place dedicated to social innovation: the example of "La Mine" (next to Paris)
[This article was originally published in French, translated in English by EPALE France]
The term "third place" is widely used to refer to new social practices, particularly those that contribute to finding solutions and proposing actions in the field of employment, integration, training and social life. The term suggests a kind of modernity.
But is it really new? And are the characteristics of these third places well-defined?
Where does the term come from? The term "third place" refers to the social environments beyond the home and work. This theory, developed by Ray Oldenburg, professor emeritus of urban sociology at the University of Pensacola (Florida), in his book published in 1989 "The Great Good Place", is not new either. He defines more precisely what the Chicago school analysed at the end of the 19th century. The city was seen as a social laboratory, with the configuration of neighbourhoods, the formation of networks and rites of sociability.
These days, many definitions coexist, in France, Europe and throughout the world. Without entering into overly prescriptive definitions, let us say that Third Places are important for civil society, democracy, civic engagement and the appropriation of social spaces.
EPALE France organised a thematic meeting on third places for learning in October 2019, with examples and perspectives from Italy and Germany. A selection of articles can be requested from EPALE France. epale@agence-erasmus.fr
In this blog, I am going to present a third place created in 2016, in Arcueil (Val de Marne). It is a project intended as a model close to sociocracy, or dynamic governance. That is to say, a shared form of governance that allows an organisation, whatever its size, to operate effectively in a self-organised mode characterised by decision-making distributed throughout the structure.
Thanks to the presentation of the place by Régis Pio, co-founder of La Mine, I would like to propose some concepts to help people understand the structure and interactions between different approaches, as implemented at La Mine.
- LA MINE.
La Mine is located in the heart of a territory undergoing development, notably due to the Greater Paris development projects. The structure hopes to rely on the economic development of the territory and the establishment of new residential areas to promote and develop its activity. Especially in the last two years, with significant development, La Mine has created several locations as well as diverse and complementary activities:
- the Ressourcerie is a resource centre for processing and reusing bulky waste items and similar objects;
- the associative café, promoting solidarity, is organised as a place for living, meeting people, conviviality and creativity;
- the Fablab and the workshop give the public access to digital manufacturing tools and technical means to make objects;
- activities outside the third place, such as La Braderie-Guinguette flea market, itinerant initiatives promoting reuse in the towns of Arcueil, Cachan, Gentilly, Villejuif, Chevilly la Rue, L'Haÿ-les-Roses, aimed at the inhabitants of large collective housing areas located in priority neighbourhoods of the city.
To date, La Mine has developed its activity in four main dimensions:
- economic, with a capacity to generate income, by consolidating the activities of the Ressourcerie, the associative café, the workshop and the Fablab,
- socio-professional, through the creation of jobs for people in precarious situations, by the development of the "reuse professions" sector and by training and guidance in digital professions,
- cultural, with a place where the principles and values of openness and sharing are fundamental. It is a place that produces movement, in the form of concerts, lectures, the annual "Woodstroc" festival and other activities.
- territorial, with a place tied to the urban fabric and encouraging encounters through projects off-site: La ressourcerie mobile vers l'emploi (a mobile truck that raises awareness of professions in waste management and reuse), la Braderie Guinguette (a reuse flea market with activities organised through a call for events in the city's priority neighbourhoods).
- NEW PROFESSIONS
One of the limits to the introduction of new social practices, both in the digital field and in the field of sustainable development and the environment is the issue of employment. Our society continues to apply a traditional understanding of professional fields to these new challenges. Stakeholders in the field are asking the following questions:
What new professions are appropriate? What are the prospects for the sectors? How can these professions be created and strengthened?
Of course, new fields have burst into French society, but their visibility is often not very strong, especially among those who could be involved in new approaches.
La Mine is developing a strong promotion of reuse professions. The structure wants to encourage the discovery of new professions related to waste management. La Mine also wants to focus on the possibilities of using digital technology. These two points are linked to the priority neighbourhoods of the City. The question of access for all to these professions is essential. Neighbourhoods cannot and should not be excluded from these new opportunities in the making.
In concrete terms, La Mine wishes to promote the recruitment of value-adding agents. Value-adding agents are technicians, professionals in the reuse, recycling and recovery of bulky items. They recycle and sell collected objects. A reference system and a ROME job profile code exist (K2304) https://www.orientation-pour-tous.fr/metier/agent-valoriste,15393.html
La Mine also wants to recruit technical supervisors and have young people enrolled in a Fabmanager university diploma, in order to become managers or facilitators of Digital Public Spaces, Fablabs or social centres.
In these sectors, many training experiments have been carried out since 2014, but their reality must be backed up by the link to the territory and therefore to possible jobs, linking local players, local authorities and employers.
At the same time, La Mine is taking concrete action to reuse waste. Its core business is the reuse of household and similar waste. In Grand Orly Seine Bièvre, it manages a centre for recovery, recycling, resale and environmental education. Its work is part of the territory's waste management plan. On a daily basis, La Mine gives priority to reducing, reusing and then recycling waste by raising public awareness of environmentally friendly behaviour. The quantity of bulky waste processed and all the visits organised help to raise public awareness, which necessarily has an impact in the fight to reduce waste.
La Mine also raises awareness about programmed obsolescence. The digital manufacturing workshop (Fablab) belongs to a project to raise awareness of the fight against programmed obsolescence. The public can learn about the use and programming of digital manufacturing machines (3D printer, arduino kits). The workshop also allows the production of spare parts for the repair of small household appliances. The goal is to expand the Fablab to cover 110 m2, instead of the initial 30 m2, to acquire new equipment: a laser cutting machine, a digital milling machine, a tool library, a large-format digital textile printing machine, and to create a FabManager position.
- FIGURES
In 2020, La Mine represented:
- 30 jobs created: 8 permanent positions (6.5 FTE) and 23 on integration contracts (13.5 FTE)
- 64 recruitments under fixed-term integration contracts (CDDI), employees took turns on the positions;
- 125 tonnes of bulky waste collected;
- 205 members;
- 84 volunteers, 27 of whom are in regular employment;
- €152,000 turnover at the shop;
- 1 festival and 35 cultural events.
- A VISION
These actions are underpinned by choices, discussed collectively within the various bodies. I will highlight a few points. These are not presented in this way in the manifesto voted by La Mine's Board of Directors.
"We strongly reject the productivist society in which we live, which encourages us by all means to consume. To always consume more. To consume to the detriment of nature (waste and pollution). To consume, even if our financial means do not allow us to do so (household debt, social crises, alienation of the majority).
We are fighting for “degrowth” in the world, that would (re)define our economic model, taking resilience as a basic concept. The aim would be to enable our societies to rebuild themselves based on a principle of balance at all levels. Firstly, by the need to adapt the ecological footprint of human activities to the limited resources available. And more broadly by a readjustment of North/South disparities.
The coronavirus pandemic of 2020, and the subsequent lockdown, encouraged greater radicality in our approach. It confirmed our raison d'être, reaffirming our values, our commitment and our desire to collaborate with as many people as possible.
The third place La Mine is defined as a community centre dedicated to reuse and social innovation based on five pillars: ecology, social justice, social and solidarity economy, popular education, responsible digital technology."
- REFERENCES
- Website: https://ressourcerie-la-mine.com/
- Video featuring La Mine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKx_PiMwYOk&feature=youtu.be
- Presentation of La Mine by Régis Pio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLBdn6AMqQU
Коментар
Hi David, thanks for sharing