Faculty of Social Sciences: Social and ecological transformation - from a McDonald’s to a self-managed cooperative, using local distribution-channels, in the northern district of Marseille Since 2015, in Marseille, a McDonald’s has been occupied and gradually transformed into a cooperative self-managed by its workers after the retailer left. This research project aims to explore how a working-class neighbourhood can reclaim sustainability by linking it to social struggle, while also promoting economic emancipation, democracy and a new relationship to work. The cooperative pursues social and ecological objectives through a variety of activities : 1. Producing free food baskets. 2. Maintaining a fast-food restaurant, but with local produce. 3. Offering cultural activities to strengthen social links. This initiative takes place in a peri-urban neighbourhood where the majority of residents have post-colonial immigrant backgrounds and live in precarious conditions. By integrating local producers and recreating social links through voluntary work and culture, this cooperative enables people from different backgrounds to help change the world from a northern district of Marseille. Bruno Frère, bfrere@uliege.be et Maryline El Khoury, marylineelkhoury@gmail.com © PragmApolis Faculty of Sciences: Waste2Bio: research into the reuse of brownfield sites Launched by the SPW Economy, Employment and Research as part of its S3 strategy (Intelligent Specialisation Strategy), the Waste2Bio Strategic Innovation Initiative aims to rehabilitate brownfield sites. Coordinated by the University of Liège, Waste2Bio brings together more than 100 Walloon players in brownfield redevelopment, the biobased economy and ecology. The aim is to make economic and environmental use of derelict land. In a context of climate change, declining biodiversity, the fight against land artificialisation and competition for land use, brownfield sites offer great potential for developing natural solutions. This includes phytomanagement, which uses plants and micro-organisms to provide ecosystem services, preserve the health of soil and water resources, human health and well-being and produce recoverable biomass. Waste2Bio is proposing an integrated approach to creating an operational platform by 2028 that will deploy innovative phytomanagement solutions, thereby restoring value to brownfield sites, either temporarily or permanently. Marc Hanikenne, marc.hanikenne@uliege.be et Cécile Nouet, cnouet@uliege.be. Faculty of Philosophy and Letters: a mythological approach towards the energy transition Among the responses to the ecological crisis, the idea of energy transition dominates: it involves seeking technical solutions to reduce energy consumption and replace fossil fuels with so-called sustainable resources. The «Mythernergie» project postulates that techniques are inseparable from the narrative frameworks that justify them and inscribe them in particular power relationships. The energy transition relies as much on techniques as on narratives, which open up or close off the field of possibilities, shape imaginations and activate emotions. It is proposed that these stories be considered myths, which need to be identified and described. François Provenzano, francois.provenzano@uliege.be et Julien Pieron, julien.pieron@uliege.be 8 | ACTIVITY REPORT SUSTAINABILITY AND TRANSITION AT ULIÈGE | 2023 – 2024
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