BMET 23A19 - Impact & Strategy: Engaging civil society

Anchored in Sciences-Po’ Parcours Civique, “Impact & Strategy” is a practical, methodological

workshop which invites students to acquire a set of strategic tools and creative approaches in the

service of civic engagement and public policy innovation. It is designed for the benefit of students in

the “Politics & Government” major, in partnership with the Communauté d’Agglomération de la Riviera

Française (CARF).

This year we will look at issues of sustainable development and regional planning. Our main partner

will be the Head of Urbanism and Territories at the CARF (i.e. Menton and about 15 small communes),

but we plan to also interact with non-profit associations, citizens, and extra-municipal commissions.

We will address the theme of land use planning and how to envision future landscape usage, in the

context of the new Territorial Coherence Scheme (SCoT) which is the official document for designing

and implementing long-term, inter-municipal strategic planning. The challenge is how to make citizens

actors of this ecological transition, sensitize them to take it as an opportunity vs. the constraint they

tend to perceive it as.

Strategic urbanism documents tend to be elaborated with the same insider stakeholders, rarely with

new input, so this is an occasion to have students bring fresh perspectives and facilitate community

engagement, citizen participation and collaboration with local associations.

By coming into contact with the real world and professionals, the educational objective of this course is

to give students the first bases of action research and diagnosis, learn to be a force for creative ideas

and proposals, and develop a capacity for analysis and impact assessment. The idea is to put users

and the transformation of public action at the heart of local government’s innovation.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is based on a framework, Path to Impact™, co-created by the professor and a collective of

American designers from AIGA, the professional design association, which has proven itself in the

United States and in France within various organizations to support their transformation.

The added value of the Impact & Strategy seminar is to respond creatively to real municipal service

challenges defined in collaboration with our partner, while addressing cross-cutting themes: social,

environmental/territorial, and economic impact.

Whether to give voice and visibility to citizens, facilitate participatory approaches, foster action, raise

awareness of the major issues of transitions, build models of shared governance, resolve

communication problems, strengthen social bonds, or improve mechanisms of service

delivery–Impact+Strategy Design can provide relevant and legitimate analysis and action tools in a

field-based project.

The course encourages emulation through teamwork so that students themselves become

collaborative agents of change. With field observation and active listening, it invites us to use human

curiosity, to believe in the power of creativity and dialogue, and thus points towards the new critical

skills (“soft skills”) of a society that seeks to give meaning, empower its citizens, and offer avenues for

action that seeks to produce positive change.

Individual homework

A reading analysis re: Ecological Transition, from a given bibliography

A visual/graphical transposition of complex data

Personal skills (soft skills)

oral participation in class will be key

empathetic professional relationship with partners

collaboration dynamics / leadership within the team

Deliverables conceived by team

Each team will deliver, in addition to the readings, exercises given in each course, oral presentations,

and brief summary notes, the following elements to which all members of the team must equally

contribute:

• A final illustrated PDF document, 20 pages max., which will include all the elements/exercises

seen in class, well drawn and well-designed in 2 large parts, according to a standard editorial charter:

• Issues and Diagnosis, applied research which will include a user questionnaire
• Strategic Recommendations, improvement tactics and possible interventions
• This final presentation will be presented orally to the partner at the very end of the class.