Experimenting the Sustainability Transition in Montreal Laneways: The Nos milieux de vie ! Case Study

Climate change results from persistent problems, the solving of which calls for innovative approaches. Transition experiments attempt to do just that. The goal of this paper is to present the experimentation project Nos milieux de vie !, carried out in Montreal by the non-profit organization Solon and the UQAM Research Chair on Sustainability Transitions, as well as to elucidate the results obtained during the first phases of the project and the methodological adaptations made over the course of the transition experiments. Our descriptions of the Nos milieux de vie ! project alongside a presentation of results achieved one year into the project have allowed us to identify four principal learnings concerning the crucial role of Solon as a mediator; the existence of diverse temporalities within the project; the importance of adapting to the demands and needs of participants; and the existence of social drivers of sustainability transitions. Resume: Les changements climatiques decoulent de problemes persistants qui impliquent d’innover dans les manieres de les aborder. Les experimentations de transition representent des tentatives en ce sens. L’objectif de cet article est de presenter le projet d’experimentation Nos milieux de vie ! mene a Montreal avec l’organisme Solon, afin de rendre compte des apprentissages acquis lors des premieres phases du projet et des adaptations methodologiques effectuees au cours des experimentations de transition auxquelles ces projets ont donne lieu. Les explications de la demarche du projet Nos milieux de vie ! et la presentation des resultats de la premiere annee permettent d’identifier quatre apprentissages principaux : le role crucial de Solon comme organisme de mediation, l’existence de temporalites diverses au sein du projet, l’importance de s’adapter aux demandes et aux besoins des participants, et l’existence de determinants sociaux de la transition ecologique.