On the edge of Paris in Val-de-Marne, Charenton-le-Pont is a quiet city of 31,000 residents. Sitting where the Marne meets the Seine, right by the Bois de Vincennes, it has everything it needs to become a hub for cycling and other active mobility. And what better way to get there than consulting residents to co-build a well-oiled bike plan?
Residents contributed to the development of the city’s bike plan.
The project collected ideas, votes, and comments across several activities.
Residents could take part through surveys, collaborative maps, online activities, and neighbourhood workshops.
When Charenton-le-Pont began developing an ambitious local bike plan, the city chose to involve the people who knew its streets best. More than 500 residents took part through La Fabrique Citoyenne, Charenton's online community engagement platform, sharing how cycling around the city could become safer, easier, and more accessible.
"What kind of city do we want to live in and see our children grow up in? The environmental emergency and the changes affecting our lives, both collectively and individually, are pushing us to rethink how we live together and move around every day. Adapting our city has become essential if we want cycling to be healthier, safer, and accessible to everyone."
— Aurélia Girard, City Councillor for the Ecological Transition
Cycling as an everyday form of transportation brings environmental, health, and economic benefits. It produces no direct emissions, supports physical and mental well-being, and can offer more predictable journey times, even during rush hour. It is also an affordable form of transportation that can support quality local jobs.
Charenton-le-Pont had already been encouraging cycling through a range of measures, including new bike lanes, shared Vélib’ bicycles, financial support for buying and repairing bikes, repair workshops, and cycling lessons for children.
The next step was to develop a citywide bike plan together with residents and other people who use its public spaces.
“For Charenton-le-Pont to remain a city where people enjoy living and to continue its commitment to sustainable development, we need to make room for the growing role of cycling. And we will do that together with the people of Charenton. Over recent months, the city has used its community engagement tools to open up the conversation about cycling.”
— Fabien Benoit, City Council Member for Participatory Democracy, Citizenship, Secondary Education, and Digital Affairs
The goal of the bike plan was to make it easier to cycle within Charenton-le-Pont and connect more effectively with the wider Paris metropolitan area.
The city wanted to create a denser, more connected cycling network, improve safety and continuity for cyclists, and help pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers share public space more comfortably.
To involve the different people affected by these decisions, the city launched “Charenton activates its bike plan!” on La Fabrique Citoyenne, its Go Vocal-powered engagement platform.
The project covered several aspects of cycling, including routes, street design, signage, parking, maintenance and repair, safety, and education.
Here's how the process unfolded:
A technical assessment
A steering committee and a technical committee carried out an on-the-ground assessment before the project began, to map existing infrastructure and identify the most relevant areas to serve.
An initial survey
In early 2021, an initial survey asked residents about mobility, and cycling in particular. Strong participation showed these topics had a real place in the local debate. The survey also surfaced residents' main concerns: how clear signage and infrastructure were, how continuous the network felt, safety, parking, and shared services.
To carry out this participatory phase and make sure everyone felt ownership of it, the city offered several modules with varied topics and methods:
A quiz to inform
A series of questions on cycling habits, signage, main routes, cycling infrastructure, and more.
Participatory workshops throughout the summer
From July 3 to September 18, residents were invited to workshops, both online and out in the neighbourhoods, including five street-side sessions with elected officials, to ask questions and share their views on cycling infrastructure and how public space is shared across all forms of mobility.
A consultation with an ideas map
The theme: "Use of public space: got an idea?" Residents were invited to pin locations on a map they wanted to see improved and how, then like and comment on each other's ideas.
A collaborative map for repair stations
Participants could suggest locations for future repair and inflation stations, then like and comment on each other's suggestions.
A collaborative map for bike racks
Cyclists could suggest locations for future bike racks. Each participant could submit up to three suggestions, then vote for one of the 14 shortlisted options in the final phase.
A multi-pronged approach, then, designed to reach as many residents as possible and let them share their views and ideas. The participatory phase of the citywide bike plan wrapped up on September 30.
Residents' contributions are being analysed and will feed into the city's final plan. Results will be shared with all participants and users on the civic participation platform. This citywide bike plan will build on and improve existing cycling infrastructure, and the Val-de-Marne department will also be involved in developing the routes under its own authority.
It's still a bit early to draw firm conclusions on the results. But more than 1,200 visits and close to 800 registrations on the online participation platform, across the bike plan and the launch of the neighbourhood councils, are very encouraging signs that Charenton residents want to get involved in issues that affect their everyday lives. Charenton's bike plan received close to 400 contributions (ideas, votes, and comments).
Mobility and sustainability are important challenges, and civic participation is an excellent way for local governments to tap into collective intelligence, shape relevant policy, and reassure residents.
Looking ahead, building on this experience with the citywide bike plan, Charenton hopes to go even further in co-building the city with its residents, including by rolling out a participatory budget through its La Fabrique Citoyenne platform.
Sören is a fervent tech enthusiast with a profound interest in politics and democratic innovation.He aims to share stories that inspire and drive impactful community engagement.
Sören Fillet is Go-to-Market Lead at Go Vocal and holds a master’s degree in public sector communications.
With 5+ years of experience in GovTech, Sören has developed a nuanced perspective on the challenges and best practices in democratic participation. He actively collaborates with experts in the field to organize industry events and stay at the forefront of trends and innovation.
In addition, Sören obtained a certificate from Innovation in Politics, further solidifying his expertise in innovative governance.
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