Governance and social acceptability of adapting municipal infrastructure to climate change
Appel à projet pour des municipalités résilientes et durables 2024 - 2025
Description
Faced with the challenges of climate change, local authorities play a leading role in implementing appropriate infrastructure projects. However, their success depends largely on social acceptability: citizens must understand, support and participate in decisions that affect them. This project explores how to structure the governance of climate change adaptation projects in order to mobilise stakeholders and ensure their social legitimacy. Through the analysis of two contrasting cases, one in Montreal and the other in a small municipality, this project offers a critical and operational interpretation of the institutional and participatory mechanisms that should be prioritized.
Objectives
- Understanding the links between project governance and social acceptability in the context of climate transition.
- Identify key actors, institutional dynamics, and perceived equity factors that influence social acceptance.
- Develop practical recommendations for municipalities: public policies, legislation, and participatory governance mechanisms.
Case study
- MIL Montreal – a large-scale project in a major city, analyzed for its citizen engagement processes, public controversies, and institutional governance structure.
- To be determined – sustainable infrastructure project in a small municipality.
Expected impacts
- Advancing knowledge on governance levers that promote the social acceptability of adaptation projects.
- Practical tools for municipalities wishing to involve citizens in their climate projects.
- Better local governance, more democratic and consistent with the principles of sustainable development.
Don’t just coexist with climate change.
