Building Community Resilience through Eco-Social Entrepreneurship

The list of sustainability initiatives in which Mieulet is involved is long and impressive: Among the more recent examples are the founding of Kreisler.Berlin, a community-run repair and share shop; the Shopping Malls to Care Centres campaign; and the transformation of car parks into green spaces in Berlin’s Graefekiez neighbourhood. She is convinced that cooperative initiatives of this kind have multiple benefits: they not only promote sustainability and create jobs, but also foster a sense of mutual support and shared responsibility.

But how do initiatives succeed in turning pilot projects into long-term pillars of sustainable development? That’s the question Mieulet hopes to answer through dialogue with experienced practitioners and researchers in France and Germany. During her fellowship, she will visit organisations focusing on the circular economy and sustainable food systems. These include the Berlin-based start-up Concular, which reintroduces used building materials into the construction cycle as part of a broader effort to spark a “building revolution,” and the urban farming pioneer La Cité Maraîchère in Romainville, near Paris.

Cooperative entrepreneurship more advanced in France

“When selecting the case studies, it was important to me that they not rely on volunteer labour or self-exploitation, but offer real economic benefits for those involved. Interestingly, it’s easier to find larger and more stable initiatives in France than in Germany. It seems to me that the French mentality favours cooperative business — collectivist approaches and resistance are more firmly anchored in the culture,” says Mieulet. In Germany, by contrast, calls for state intervention often take centre stage. “That’s important too,” she adds, “but France is further along when it comes to implementing practical, on-the-ground solutions.”

Contributing to democracy

For example, the initiators of "La Cité Maraîchère" worked together with the city council and the bank BNP Paribas to establish their urban farming campus. The municipality, located just a few kilometres northeast of Paris, is home to a large proportion of people living in poverty. A modern greenhouse with an integrated canteen was built on site, creating 22 new jobs and a wide range of educational opportunities.

In Germany, says Mieulet, such a project of this kind would likely have faced greater challenges securing funding, says Mieulet: “German banks and local authorities tend to have less experience in realising eco-social business projects together with civil society. As a consequence, there’s less trust between the stakeholders involved.” Based on her initial site visits, Mieulet’s hypothesis is that one key to France’s success lies in the natural formation of broad coalitions of stakeholders from civil society, politics, and business.

Guidance for practitioners

As part of her project at RIFS, Mieulet aims not only to conduct site visits but also to facilitate exchange among the initiatives involved. She plans to publish her findings in a scientific paper and a practical guide to building resilience through community-based initiatives.