With an excellent initiative promoting democratic participation to address issues such as energy, ageing, the digital transition and social inclusion, Nantes has been awarded the European Capital of Innovation in the latest edition.

The city is successfully implementing its vision of open governance into practice by guaranteeing dialogue with a wide range of participants and embedding this practice firmly in all its public policies.

With this initiative, Nantes has managed to engage with over 50,000 citizens in ‘Grands Débats’ to discuss several topics and even drew up a roadmap of 33 ambitious commitments in relation to energy transition. This involved citizens’ submissions on initiatives to an open competition, which led to 15 locations around the city undergoing a reinvention.
Some of these included:

• A disused chapel turning into a urban mushroom farm
• A former school art academy becoming a zero-waste awareness hub
• An old restaurant being turned into a community canteen