Everyday Practices and the Reframing of Territorial Representations: Inhabitants, Agency, and Public Action

Abstract

. This article offers a reflexive account of an action research approach that involved local residents in shaping territorial representations for tourism and heritage development. It examines how the capability approach, social innovation theory, and critical heritage studies can be operationalized through participatory public action. The central hypothesis is that territorial reconversion can produce lasting effects only if it strengthens residents’ capacity to influence not only the transformation of their everyday living environments, but also the institutional representations that define, value, and ultimately shape territorial strategies. Drawing on a four-year programme in La Porte du Hainaut (Northern France), the article analyses an action research process combining territorial diagnosis, participatory workshops, actor-network building, and research-creation. The findings show that spaces for critical reflection enable residents’ knowledge and everyday practices to challenge dominant representations, broaden definitions of heritage, and strengthen collective agency by generating counter-narratives around gender, migration, industrial memory, and the ordinary uses of heritage sites. Finally, the article highlights the university’s role as a mediator between institutions and citizens while discussing the structural limits of such approaches, including unstable funding, conflicting temporalities, and shifting political priorities.