Christophe
Gouache
Validated Lead Expert
Generic Skills
B.1. Understanding of integrated and sustainable urban development:
I have a Master degree in Design with a specialty on Responsible Innovation from the Ecole de Design Nantes Atlantique (France). Through these studies and several years of professional design practice at various governance levels in the public sector, I have worked on sustainable ways of living in the present and the future, on designing tools and methods to enable participatory process aiming at building sustainable territorial visions and strategies and more globally empowering sustainable, social and public innovation. I work at local (communal), regional, national and European levels. I am working with communes (dozens of them in France), regional authorities (Nord-Pas de Calais Region, Rhône-Alpes Region, Wallonia Region, Brussels Capital Region), national governments (Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Sustainability in France), and European bodies (Joint Research Center, DG Regio). I also train civil servants at INET (National Institute for Territorial Studies) in Strasbourg on Design of public services and public policy innovation and teach at Sciences Po Lille Design for public policies to political science students. In my work I apply design-based practices like immersion, empathy, field investigation, co-design and co-creation, prototyping, visualization, storytelling, etc. to enable creative and participatory problem-solving process and visioning activities towards sustainable innovation.
B.2. Understanding of exchange and learning processes at transnational level:
I have been involved along my years of practice in several European H2020 research projects : SPREAD (2011), CORPUS (2012), TURAS (2013), NATCONSUMERS (2015), CIMULACT (2015), COMPASS (2016) and ECO2 (2018). I also take part to an Erasmus + project : Changemakers (2016). I also give keynotes and conferences in european/international events. To cite a few as examples : at the 3rd Technology Assessment Conference (Cork) on Stimulating conversations about the future in citizen-based participatory processes, at the EU Parliament – Civic Innovation Network – on " Bridging civic innovation and politics”, at the Museum of Vancouver on “Happy futures : Imagination and Sustainability“, at the LEF Future Center, Utrech, Netherlands on Visualisation as an integral approach in foresight or at the 5th International Conference on Future-Oriented Technology Analysis on Linking foresight and policy labs.
B.3. Proficiency in English:
I have done literature studies with a specialty in English language, have lived one year in the United States (Minneapolis, Minnesota) and six months in the Philippines. Through the various European projects I have been involved in, the European and international conferences and keynotes I gave and the writing of English articles and reports, I gained a full English proficiency.
Expertise for the design and delivery of transnational exchange and learning activities:
Thematic expertise:
Theme / Policy:
Environmental Issues
Summary Thematic expertise:
I have been involved for many years in various environmental projects, either from a research and foresight perspective or from a public strategic policy side. On the research side, I have been involved in various EU Research projects like SPREAD and CORPUS on sustainable ways of living in 2050 and 2030 or on thematics projects like energy with Natconsumers (responsible energy consumption) and ECO2 (changing behaviours of energy use in households). I also worked at policy or strategic level co-creating the Good Food Strategy with the Brussels-Capital Region Ministry of Environment, worked for many years with the French Ministry of Environment on Agenda 21 (local sustainable development programmes) and cities themselves in building their Agenda 21. I have worked with the Nord Pas de Calais (France) for for 3 years on the TESR programme– Regional Ecological and Social Transformation of the Nord-Pas de Calais region. I am involved in the Sustainable Development Goals by collaborating with IGES (Institute for Global Environment Strategies) through a project called ESL - Envisioning Sustainable Lifestyles. Finally, I am deeply involved in a participatory action-research that we are currently running in the Brussels Capital Region called VILCO (Ville Collaborative - The Collaborative City) where we look into increasing urban resiliency by amplifying the collaboration betwen citizens collectives acting for the environment and local public authorities.
Theme / Policy:
Local Governance
Summary Thematic expertise:
I have been working for many years on the question of local governance and in particular on how to transform local governance towards more participatory processes including citizens in the citymaking and city-imagining (Visions+21, French Ministry of Environment) and increasing citizens collectives and local administrations' collaboration (VILCO - Ville Collaborative - Collaborative City, Action-research project in the Brussels Capital Region). I have experience working with cities and have been carrying out participatory sessions with citizens, civil servants and local elected officials all together for the Visions+21 toolkit (which I co-created) in a dozen cities all over France, and with communes of Brussels Capital Region for the VILCO action-research project. I have been also involved in exploring how cities can support the development of social entrepreneurship and innovation through the TURAS project (Transitioning towards urban resilience and sustainability). Finally, I am deeply active in projects that tend to bring an innovation culture (and in particular a design approach) to local governance : collaboration with the 27th Region on public innovation projects in France, the setting up of a lab with the Public Service of Wallonia (SPW, DGO6) in Belgium, and teaching and training activities both at Sciences Po Lille (Political science school) and at INET (National Institute of Territorial Studies) in Strasbourg with directors of local-regional adminstrations.
Expertise support to local authorities and other stakeholders in designing & delivering integrated and participatory policies
E.1. Knowledge on participatory methods and tools for co-production and implementation of local polices :
I have an extensive experience working with local authorities (small, medium and large cities as well as regions) in the co-production and implementation of local policies. Amongst the different experience, I can cite the design of a participatory visioning toolbox called Visions+21 made for the Ministry of Environment in France which was co-elaborated with more than 200 local civil servants and sustainability practitioners all over France over a period of 3 years. I also conducted piloting and action-training sessions for this toolbox in 10 different cities in France. Then I collaborated with the Nord Pas de Calais region in the implementation of their programme called “the Social and Ecological Transformation of the Region (TESR)” during 3 years and in which we designed and facilitated many participatory activities (workshops, TESR Forum with 450 people) with a very diverse set of stakeholders ranging from citizens and NGOs, to public bodies, to private actors. I also worked on the co-organisation of a large stakeholder process to draft the Sustainable Food Strategy of the Ministry of Environment of the Brussels Capital Region and the design – for the french Ministry of Environment – of a participatory serious game called Evalophobia which aims at unblocking evaluation practices at local levels and in which more than 40 civil servants and elected officials from 15 cities where involved in the co-creation process.
E.2. Knowledge on integrated approach for the design, delivering, monitoring and evaluation of urban strategies/policies:
I gained experience in designing and running evaluation activities in a various contexts. For example, I have been involved in the peer evaluation process of the Agenda 21 of the Conseil Général of Gironde in Bordeaux, in conducting field diagnosis in Guadeloupe for the French Ministry of Justice within a participatory action-research project on on Juvenile Justice, in the redesign of the French national framework and certification process of Agenda 21 (Ministry of Environment). I also collaborated in the design and testing of a serious game called “Evalophobia : “we all have a good reason not to evaluate public policies” for the French Ministry of Environment. This game is used by local authorities who wish to do a self-analysis of their evaluation practices, blockages and levers before initiating an evaluation process of their local sustainable policies and plans. This game has been awarded with a public innovation prize by Futurs Publics (SGMAP). Finally, I have also conducted many participatory diagnosis activities through collaborative system mapping (Regional Council of Rhône-Alpes (FR), Joint Research Center & DG Regio (EU), interviews, etc. As a practitioner of “public policy innovation by design”, I see evaluation as a participatory, reflective and creative process which supports the redesign of public policies, therefore evaluation and policy design are tied together in an iterative loop of continuous improvement.
E.3. Awareness of the main policy and funding schemes for sustainable urban development at EU and national level:
I am aware of policy and funding schemes for sustainable urban development at EU and national level through the projects I am involved in (example : ESIF for DG Regio), through personal search and updates following EU accounts on social media (twitter, Facebook, official websites, etc.) and finally through professional conversations with public authorities I work with and who receive or apply for EU or national funds (FEDER, etc.).
E.4. Ability to understand specific local situations and adapt tools and content to different local realities:
Since my practice as a designer is user-centered, I take a great care of understanding specific local situation through the use of the following tools and methods : immersion through field visits, in-situ interviews, stakeholders and system mapping, participatory investigation, touring, reaction cards (to provoke the conversation on critical points) and collective storytelling (for example making local actors tell stories of things that work and things that don’t work and co-analyze them), etc. This means spending time within local authorities’ offices, spending time with civil servants, meeting with beneficiaries and local partners/stakeholders. This immersion phase is critical to get a good understanding of the local situation, the practices and ways of working, the different issues and difficulties (that got revealed through the multiple interviews and informal conversations with local actors) as well as the strong points and original or innovative cases/actions/practices.
Summary Expertise:
I have an extensive experience working with local authorities (small, medium and large cities as well as regions) in the co-creation of local policies. Amongst the different experience, I can cite the design of a participatory visioning toolbox called Visions+21 made for the Ministry of Environment in France which was co-elaborated with more than 200 local civil servants and sustainability practitioners all over France over a period of 3 years. I also conducted piloting and action-training sessions for this toolbox in 10 different cities in France. Then I collaborated with the Nord Pas de Calais region in the implementation of their programme called “the Social and Ecological Transformation of the Region (TESR)” during 3 years and in which we designed and facilitated many participatory activities (workshops, TESR Forum with 450 people) with a very diverse set of stakeholders ranging from citizens and NGOs, to public bodies, to private actors. I also worked on the co-organisation of a large stakeholder process for the french Ministry of Environment of a participatory serious game called Evalophobia which aims at unblocking evaluation practices at local levels and in which more than 40 civil servants and elected officials from 15 cities where involved in the co-creation process. Finally, I am currently deeply involved in a participatory action research project called VILCO (the collaborative city) in which more than 100 citizens, civil servants and officials collaborate.
Informations
Residence location:
Belgium
Languages:
French - Mother tongue
Foreign Languages level:
Foreign languages:
Email:
christophe@strategicdesignscenarios.net