Social Value and Appropriation – The REV Project
This research project is linked to Research Axis 1: SOCIETY, VALORIZATION, AND GOVERNANCE.
Project Description
REV: The REV (Réseau Express Vélo) is a project consisting of 191 km of bike lanes that connect various points of interest in Montreal. Comprised of protected lanes, it facilitates cycling transportation. This research seeks to better understand how the community has embraced this cycling infrastructure.
Partners: City of Montreal, Geneviève Goudreault, Lucie Careau
Researchers: Gulliver Lux, Marie-Andrée Caron & Nathalie Drouin
Students: Héloise Bernard, Yasmina Belkessam, Nesrine Dafri
Research Objectives
- Identify the conditions enabling an infrastructure to generate social value;
- Study the social value generated by the community’s appropriation of an infrastructure;
- For ongoing projects – involve communities in project implementation to promote the creation of social value;
- For completed projects – identify what worked well or less well for knowledge transfer and the creation of social value.
Analytical Model
Social value is documented through three fundamental sources:
- Stakeholder relationship backgrounds with each other and with the infrastructure owner, principles, values, etc. (the representations of the involved actors – subjective dimension of social value) – creating a space to identify or build expectations;
- Information exchanges throughout an interaction trajectory of stakeholders with each other and with the infrastructure (data, reports, etc. – objective dimension of social value) – creating a space to exchange information;
- Anticipated or achieved results in terms of social value (projective dimension of social value) – creating a space for projection.
Appropriation can be social, environmental, or economic.
Analysis of Missing Links in Montreal’s Cycling Network