Ports of Lille, accompanied by its Innovation Coach, organized two workshops at the end of 2024. These workshops aimed to gather the expectations and needs of stakeholders connected to the waterway to build a shared collective vision.
Workshop 1: Immersion in the Pilot Zone with Waterway Users
In November 2024, the first workshop was organized with institutional, economic, and associative stakeholders of the waterway. This workshop allowed each participant to present their challenges, share their experiences with the canal, and react to proposed future developments.
Workshop 2: Meeting residents and visitors
In December 2024, a second workshop was organized, this time to meet with the local population (residents, visitors, families, youth, etc.). Using a short-interview format, these exchanges enriched the findings from the first workshop by focusing on perceptions, expectations, and needs.
Shaping the future vision: A shared future for the waterway
In February 2025, Ports of Lille organized a restitution meeting to present the scenarios developed from the workshops.
Here are the key points of these visions:
A transversal vision for a shared governance of the waterway, seen as a common asset to be valued. Through a dedicated organization, various stakeholders could participate in co-creating management rules and prioritizing projects.
- Tomorrow, a city looking at its productive canal
- Tomorrow, living together around the waterway
- Tomorrow, nature at the heart of the banks
- Tomorrow, safe swimming areas
Experimentation and involvement
Based on the scenarios, 3 experimental approaches were submitted to the stakeholder, voting to determine which solution to test:
- Informing Waterway Users: Development of informational tools such as signs, interactive and educational displays to raise awareness and guide users.
- Organizing Events Around the Canal: Planning festivals, tours, conferences, and other cultural events to enhance the port and canal's vibrancy.
- Developing a Collaborative Web Platform: Creating a digital tool enabling different stakeholders to manage the uses, exchange information, and communicate with the population.
The stakeholders were also invited to determine their level of involvement in implementing the experiment (information dissemination, active participation, technical or material contributions, etc.).
Next Step: Experimentation
In the coming months, Ports of Lille will experiment with the solution chosen by participants. This phase will provide concrete momentum to the project while refining needs based on feedback from users and stakeholders.
Source: Ports of Lille