Closing mines, greening economic trajectories and building territorial capability: the triad of a sustainable post-mining territory. The systemic ecological transition of Loos-en-Gohelle in the French Mining District

Résumé En

As surprising as it may seem, one of the epigons of ecological transition in France is a small former mining city, Loos-en-Gohelle (population 7,000), where mining activities ceased in 1986. Mining left the highest density of mining pits in one single city Europe-wide, yet in 2011 the city was branded a national pilot for urban sustainable development. The area has concentrated a lot of public and academic attention ever since. How did such rejuvenation occur and what can this be the model of? Loos-en-Gohelle’s trajectory is often reduced to a sole transition from black to green through the development of new activities epitomizing the green and low carbon economy. Yet, this remains fairly simplistic and neglects both the intense labor of valuation of former activities led by the local authority and the systemic, highly reflexive, and collective practice that was developed by the authorities and their population. Using the theoretical framework of territorial capability, this paper shows how the transition of this former mining hotspot rests on the complex convergence of three processes: the valuation of the inheritance of mining activities in a non-folkloric nor dated way (through cultural events and the mobilization of the local population); the political creation and animation of an economic hub around low carbon urban production; and the articulation of different scales to anchor this local project in larger visions of systemic territorial transformations (and notably around the Third Industrial Revolution that irrigates the regional development policy). Based on fieldwork visits and 20 interviews with key local representatives, it anchors the production of territorial capability in the enactment, activation and (re)production of territorial resources, be they material, political or symbolic.