Has anyone implemented solutions at a local / municipal level?

[Katia Dayan]

Dear Colleagues,

I am running for office in a small French town, as councilwoman / referent for sustainable development.

After years of researching sustainable lifestyles and sufficiency at the University of Geneva, I feel my head is buzzing with ideas - but I find it difficult to translate/ fit everything into a relatively short policy program.

Has anyone on this list had experience developing / implementing sustainable lifestyles solutions in municipalities , as an elected official?

I would love to hear from you and learn about your experiences.

And just to be clear: this may be a very short adventure if our list doesn't win local elections in March 😅 But I find it fascinating to be able to even draft something to apply in my own municipality.

Kind regards,

Katia 

[Jean Boucher]

Hi Katia,
     I have not done this, but it sounds challenging.

Some things come to my mind though. It's about participatory governance, I guess finding out what people are willing to do, accept, adopt. There was a survey done in Ireland some years back that found that the Irish people were more willing to make changes than the government was giving them credit for. Maybe there is a similar situation in towns in France.

I don't remember it, but there was also a paper--I think posted by Marlyne Sahakian, she used to be on this list--It was about how consumers participated in deciding what things they were willing to change about their consumption habits. Maybe Marlyne is still on this list and remembers that paper?

Sorry I'm not more help, all the best with it.

Jean

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[Rees, William E.]

Hi Katia -

Sustainable lifestyles will be much less energy and material intensive that current French lifestyles and economies will have to be much more self-reliant and local.  I expand on these ideas in the attached extract from the longer paper mentioned. 

Good luck in your elections. 

Bill Rees

aka

William E Rees, PhD, FRSC

Professor Emeritus

UBC Faculty of Applied Science

"The ecologically necessary is politically infeasible but the politically feasible is ecologically ineffective when not disastrous."

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From: sco...@googlegroups.com <sco...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Katia Dayan <katia.da...@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, January 26, 2026 11:05
To: sco...@googlegroups.com <sco...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [SCORAI] Has anyone implemented solutions at a local / municipal level?

 

[CAUTION: Non-UBC Email]

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[Peter Victor]

Hi Katia - we met in Oslo when you were interviewed for the Daly film. I hope you are doing well.

  

Do you know or have you heard of David Miller? He was mayor of Toronto for 7 years and is now the North American Director, C40 Climate Leadership Group, and Global Ambassador of inclusive climate action. He served as Chair of C40 Cities from 2008 until 2010. You can reach David at dmi...@c40.org. I’m sure he will be able to help you.

Good luck in the election.

Peter

Peter A. Victor PhD, FRSC
Professor Emeritus and Senior Scholar
York University
Canada
www.pvictor.com

[Kathy Schwarz]

Maybe it could begin with community gardens and people growing their own food, if they have any space to do it.  

Kathy Schwarz

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/scorai/0E596F2C-0E41-4979-91D0-EABA4EB65007%40pvictor.com.

[Ashwani Vasishth]

Dear Katia,

I see what you need, but don’t know your particular local context.  However, after a couple of decades of policy-related education for sustainability, and having worked as well in New Jersey, US, with towns and municipalities following the Statewide Sustainable Jersey program  started at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) by Reid Ewing and Donna Drewes, which helps towns within the State of New Jersey mark their progress toward a holistic approach to sustainability, I've learned a few things.

Personal behavior change is a necessary (but tiny) part of moving toward a more sustainable future. The call, “it’s not climate change, it’s system change,” resonates for me.  

Yes, we need to advocate for “sustainable lifestyles.”  But there are, say, 9 billion people who would have to change to even begin to move the needle on planetary overshoot.  With a few centuries of conflating personal profit with self interest deeply acculturated into us….good luck with that.  (Note, I don’t use the much misused meme of capitalism.)

Of course, I understand why its easier to call for lifestyle change--personal agency and responsibility, person-to person contact.  Besides, system change is hard.  And uncertain.  Because the world does not sit still.  In all Wicked Problems, there is not one single static problem.  If they were, why we'd just engineer our way out of it, and sustainability "science" would be the lode star.

Additionally, I’ve learned we’ll never really begin moving toward sustainability if we insist it’s primarily about “environmentalism.”  The nested triple-bottom-line is more useful.  With money as the first requirement.  Good intentions buy you little.  And that not for long.

We need to be talking about at least two things—changing how we make choices as individuals, and as we choose as a collective.  

And these are two distinctly different things—individual life cycle-style evolution, which is distinct from collective species-style evolution.  Yet we take the concept of conception-birth-youth-maturity-aging-death metaphor to be a proxy for ALL the complex of evolutionary processes.  Our error. We pay.

So, yes, you must pursue lifestyle change.  The internet and books and AI can easily help you with that.  There are few unseen insights to be had, I suspect--until the world shifts again, which it will.  Soon.

Community education is imperative, but that is an unending process, as inter-generational knowledge transfer is a fickle process.

But if it's community transformation you’re looking for, then it's community choice-making norms (policies?) you need to grab ahold of.  The Sustainable Jersey model has way more leverage.

There is, as well in the US, a decent literature on structuring bylaws, ordinances and municipal policies.  I'm sure the EU is ahead of us, but I only speak of what I know to be useful here.

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     Ashwani
        Vasishth         vasi...@ramapo.edu          (323) 206-1858 (Cell Phone)
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You can ALWAYS set up an Appointment with me, without negotiation, seven days a week,
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[Shaw]

Thanks Katia for being willing to step forward to help your community.

While focused on Canada and the powers that Canadian local governments have to effect change, the Climate Caucus has developed a suite to tools and a network to support elected officials. Perhaps there is something similar in France. Networking with others with similar goals was very supportive for me and I wish Climate Caucus had been around when I was on our local council.

Cheers,

Sue

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/scorai/7e96bc41-6495-4c1e-b684-044bde81bfa1%40ramapo.edu.

[Wertheim-Heck, Sigrid]

Dear Katja,

 

Are you familiar with AMS Institute? AMS Institute - Homepage

This instititute was initiated by the municipality of Amsterdam to address future urban challenges. I am one of the PIs on urban food, but the program manager is Bart Kuiter (in cc)and he holds very good connections to the municipality. In Amstredam are many initiatives on food: Voedsel Verbindt

 

As of 15 march I will be based as a research fellow in Montpellier and connecting to projects such as: Caisse commune de l’alimentation Montpellier – Sécurité sociale de l'alimentation

Maybe you could also connect to them.

 

Bonne chance!

 

Grt,

Sigrid Wertheim-Heck

[Benjamin Sovacool]

Hello Katia, all – I was reminded and already shared an article on social innovation practices city actors can do to promote sustainability, open access here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-023-00952-w

 

But I was also reminded about this paper on how cities can harness imaginaries to better unpack discussions of climate futures: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214629624004778 (PDF attached)

 

And, lastly, this paper which talks about really nice non-normal methods actors can use to gather much needed public/non-expert input, also open access:

 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-63569-x

 

These parts are most relevant:

 

 

 

Best,

 

Benjamin

 

From: sco...@googlegroups.com <sco...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Shaw

Sent: Monday, January 26, 2026 8:45 PM
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Cc: katia.da...@gmail.com; sco...@googlegroups.com

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/scorai/E89566B5-ACD7-414B-8547-8A1CDE73EEFD%40shaw.ca.

[Wertheim-Heck, Sigrid]

Thanks Benjamin,

 

I am also appreciative of these sources 😊

I also attached a paper on using citizens as expert of their own daily lives and viewing the city as a living laboratory.

 

Nice, inspiring exchange!

 

Grt,

Sigrid

Sue

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/scorai/LO6P302MB023724BA3F1CFE79EB8B92CBB590A%40LO6P302MB0237.GBRP302.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM.