Case Study of a Workshop for the Ecological Redirection of a Public Science Institution

Abstract

In the face of the environmental and climate crisis, many organisations are being led to branch out, to take a path that shifts away from their original practices towards more sustainable futures. A variety of initiatives have emerged as a result of such concerns, aiming to facilitate that sought-after change. I shall explore how the use of collaborative workshops can be a tool in these environmental transition dynamics to support a practice of ecological redirection. In that context, this paper discusses the case of a speculative workshop that was designed in the context of the ecological redirection of the French Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie. A particular focus is given to the design process of the workshop aiming to enhance the overlooked voices of local environmental activists and the tools that were developed in that context, proposing a methodology for a transition workshop.