Regaining a sense of belonging
Bringing Life Back to Rural Villages
Bringing Life Back to Rural Villages with Mobile Festivals for Essential Services & Community Ties
Across rural villages, essential services and community life are disappearing, leaving communities isolated. Our mobile festivals bring life back by offering health support, local markets, cultural events, and administrative help—all in a festive, welcoming setting. By uniting residents, businesses, and local institutions, we foster social bonds and create a re-interpretation of modern rural life by reinventing the village square as a modern hub.
France
Local
Since 2022, we covered the following villages in the Cher department :
Savigny-en-Septaine, Pigny, Neuvy-Deux-Clochers, Civray, Sainte-Thorette, Lissay-Lochy, Dampierre-en-Graçay, Chassy, Ourouer-les-Bourdelins, Saint-Laurent, Allogny, Villeneuve-sur-Cher, Genouilly, La Chapelotte, Saint-Michel-de-Volangis, Baugy, Lury-sur-Arnon, Vouzeron, Soulangis, Arcay, Azy, Crosses, Quincy, Saint-Caprais.
Savigny-en-Septaine, Pigny, Neuvy-Deux-Clochers, Civray, Sainte-Thorette, Lissay-Lochy, Dampierre-en-Graçay, Chassy, Ourouer-les-Bourdelins, Saint-Laurent, Allogny, Villeneuve-sur-Cher, Genouilly, La Chapelotte, Saint-Michel-de-Volangis, Baugy, Lury-sur-Arnon, Vouzeron, Soulangis, Arcay, Azy, Crosses, Quincy, Saint-Caprais.
Mainly rural
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Yes
2024-10-31
Yes
LEADER (FEADER)
No
No
As a representative of an organisation
The project is dedicated to revitalizing rural villages that have lost local businesses and essential services, leaving residents isolated and without access to basic needs. Through traveling festivals, Ville à Joie transforms public spaces into vibrant, multifunctional hubs where culture, services, and social interactions merge, recreating the essence of a modern village square.
The project aligns with the values of the New European Bauhaus (NEB). It brings beauty by activating public spaces with cultural events, concerts, and community-led initiatives, restoring aesthetic and social appeal to rural areas. It fosters sustainability by reducing travel distances for essential services such as healthcare, administrative support, and local commerce, decreasing environmental impact while strengthening local economies. It enhances inclusivity by uniting residents across generations and social backgrounds, reactivating solidarity and community belonging.
The Cher region faces severe rural depopulation, commercial desertification, and limited access to public services. Ville à Joie directly tackles these challenges by bringing essential services closer to people rather than forcing them to travel long distances, encouraging economic revitalization by boosting local businesses and attracting new ones, and fostering long-term engagement as festivals often lead to the regular return of services.
With 58 events organized, the project has reached 4 060 participants, facilitated 6 960 service interactions, and directly led to 1 044 administrative procedures initiated. More than just an event, Ville à Joie is a catalyst for sustainable rural renewal, proving that community-driven initiatives can shape thriving, resilient, and socially connected villages.
The project aligns with the values of the New European Bauhaus (NEB). It brings beauty by activating public spaces with cultural events, concerts, and community-led initiatives, restoring aesthetic and social appeal to rural areas. It fosters sustainability by reducing travel distances for essential services such as healthcare, administrative support, and local commerce, decreasing environmental impact while strengthening local economies. It enhances inclusivity by uniting residents across generations and social backgrounds, reactivating solidarity and community belonging.
The Cher region faces severe rural depopulation, commercial desertification, and limited access to public services. Ville à Joie directly tackles these challenges by bringing essential services closer to people rather than forcing them to travel long distances, encouraging economic revitalization by boosting local businesses and attracting new ones, and fostering long-term engagement as festivals often lead to the regular return of services.
With 58 events organized, the project has reached 4 060 participants, facilitated 6 960 service interactions, and directly led to 1 044 administrative procedures initiated. More than just an event, Ville à Joie is a catalyst for sustainable rural renewal, proving that community-driven initiatives can shape thriving, resilient, and socially connected villages.
Rural Revitalization
Community Engagement
Place-making
Public Space Renewal
Mobile Services
Ville à Joie is a sustainable initiative that challenges one of the greatest decarbonization challenges in rural areas: dependency on cars. In rural regions like Cher, but also across Europe, over 90% of residents rely on private vehicles, mostly running on fossil fuels, to access essential services. Instead of reinforcing the paradigm of pushing people to travel faster and farther for services, Ville à Joie reverses the model by bringing services directly to the villages. This allows residents to access healthcare, administrative help, and cultural activities by foot or bicycle, significantly reducing their carbon footprint. On average, each event prevents 1,350 km of car travel per village, directly reducing CO₂ emissions.
The project also adopts a resource-efficient and low-impact event model. Its modular and mobile infrastructure minimizes material use while ensuring a scalable, adaptable, and efficient format that can be replicated elsewhere. By requiring minimal setup and prioritizing flexibility, Ville à Joie offers a sustainable alternative to static infrastructure investments, which are often expensive and underutilized in sparsely populated areas.
Beyond environmental impact, Ville à Joie revitalizes local economies and strengthens rural sustainability by fostering short supply chains. At each event, an average of 500€ in revenue is generated for local businesses, contributing directly to rural economic resilience. The project also funds local associations, reinforcing the social fabric of villages through collective engagement. Furthermore, Ville à Joie has led to concrete results, such as the reopening of local shops and services, demonstrating that mobile initiatives can trigger lasting economic and social revitalization.
Ville à Joie is exemplary because it provides a replicable, cost-effective alternative for rural sustainability.
The project also adopts a resource-efficient and low-impact event model. Its modular and mobile infrastructure minimizes material use while ensuring a scalable, adaptable, and efficient format that can be replicated elsewhere. By requiring minimal setup and prioritizing flexibility, Ville à Joie offers a sustainable alternative to static infrastructure investments, which are often expensive and underutilized in sparsely populated areas.
Beyond environmental impact, Ville à Joie revitalizes local economies and strengthens rural sustainability by fostering short supply chains. At each event, an average of 500€ in revenue is generated for local businesses, contributing directly to rural economic resilience. The project also funds local associations, reinforcing the social fabric of villages through collective engagement. Furthermore, Ville à Joie has led to concrete results, such as the reopening of local shops and services, demonstrating that mobile initiatives can trigger lasting economic and social revitalization.
Ville à Joie is exemplary because it provides a replicable, cost-effective alternative for rural sustainability.
Ville à Joie reinvents the traditional village festival, merging it with essential services, social engagement, and sustainability. The familiar setting—tents, checkered tablecloths, pennants, communal tables, and a warm festive atmosphere—creates an inviting space, particularly for older residents, the majority in rural areas. This nostalgic yet innovative approach ensures accessibility while transforming villages into dynamic social hubs.
More than a temporary event, Ville à Joie creates lasting community ties. It brings together local associations, residents, and businesses, fostering new networks of mutual aid, revived local groups, and long-term cultural initiatives. By integrating local food stands, traditional music, and interactive activities, it breaks barriers between generations, encouraging participation and a renewed sense of belonging.
Ville à Joie also reshapes public spaces into multifunctional gathering points. By blending healthcare, administrative services, and social support into a festive environment, it restores the role of the village square—a space where people connect, exchange, and access key services. This participatory, inclusive model aligns with the New European Bauhaus vision of aesthetic, sustainable, and socially cohesive places.
Beyond aesthetics, Ville à Joie ensures that rural beauty is not just preserved but reinterpreted for modern challenges. By combining local traditions with contemporary needs, it creates a replicable model for rural revitalization, proving that aesthetics in rural areas are about more than infrastructure—they are about reviving community life, fostering inclusion, and making villages vibrant and sustainable again.
More than a temporary event, Ville à Joie creates lasting community ties. It brings together local associations, residents, and businesses, fostering new networks of mutual aid, revived local groups, and long-term cultural initiatives. By integrating local food stands, traditional music, and interactive activities, it breaks barriers between generations, encouraging participation and a renewed sense of belonging.
Ville à Joie also reshapes public spaces into multifunctional gathering points. By blending healthcare, administrative services, and social support into a festive environment, it restores the role of the village square—a space where people connect, exchange, and access key services. This participatory, inclusive model aligns with the New European Bauhaus vision of aesthetic, sustainable, and socially cohesive places.
Beyond aesthetics, Ville à Joie ensures that rural beauty is not just preserved but reinterpreted for modern challenges. By combining local traditions with contemporary needs, it creates a replicable model for rural revitalization, proving that aesthetics in rural areas are about more than infrastructure—they are about reviving community life, fostering inclusion, and making villages vibrant and sustainable again.
Ville à Joie is a fully inclusive model that ensures accessibility, affordability, and active participation for all. In rural areas, where essential services are disappearing, many vulnerable groups—elderly residents, low-income households, caregivers, and those living in remote areas—struggle with isolation and non-take-up of rights. Ville à Joie directly addresses these issues by reversing the traditional service model: instead of requiring people to travel long distances, it brings healthcare, administrative support, and local businesses directly to their villages, ensuring that services are accessible by foot or bicycle.
Access to Ville à Joie events is entirely free. Residents, municipalities, and public-interest service providers can all participate without cost. By being present in their daily environment, Ville à Joie reaches those who are often excluded from traditional support systems, such as individuals with limited mobility, elderly residents, and families in financial difficulty.
The main socio-professional groups attending Ville à Joie events are among the most economically vulnerable, primarily workers, employees, and retirees. This highlights the project’s strong social inclusion impact, as it reaches populations most affected by rural service gaps.
Additionally, over half of surveyed participants report experiencing daily difficulties accessing essential services and shops, reinforcing the need for localized, mobile solutions like Ville à Joie to bridge accessibility gaps in rural areas.
Beyond accessibility, Ville à Joie is built on a participatory governance model that actively involves local stakeholders. Residents are consulted on the choice of services, cultural activities, and the themes represented in each festival.
Ville à Joie also fosters intergenerational connections. The project brings together young professionals trained in community outreach with older residents, creating moments of exchange that strengthen social ties.
Access to Ville à Joie events is entirely free. Residents, municipalities, and public-interest service providers can all participate without cost. By being present in their daily environment, Ville à Joie reaches those who are often excluded from traditional support systems, such as individuals with limited mobility, elderly residents, and families in financial difficulty.
The main socio-professional groups attending Ville à Joie events are among the most economically vulnerable, primarily workers, employees, and retirees. This highlights the project’s strong social inclusion impact, as it reaches populations most affected by rural service gaps.
Additionally, over half of surveyed participants report experiencing daily difficulties accessing essential services and shops, reinforcing the need for localized, mobile solutions like Ville à Joie to bridge accessibility gaps in rural areas.
Beyond accessibility, Ville à Joie is built on a participatory governance model that actively involves local stakeholders. Residents are consulted on the choice of services, cultural activities, and the themes represented in each festival.
Ville à Joie also fosters intergenerational connections. The project brings together young professionals trained in community outreach with older residents, creating moments of exchange that strengthen social ties.
Ville à Joie is built on a citizen-centered model, ensuring that residents are not just passive beneficiaries but active participants in shaping the project. In each village, citizens are represented through their mayors, who play a key role in relaying local needs, service gaps, and priorities, as well as identifying which local associations should be reactivated to strengthen community life. This ensures that the festival is tailored to each village’s specific reality and genuinely responds to residents’ expectations.
Beyond this indirect representation, Ville à Joie directly engages residents before, during, and after each event to shape the programming, improve communication, and refine the festival experience. On-site semi-structured interviews, follow-up discussions, and written surveys—approximately twelve per event—allow residents to express their preferences, ideas, and needs. These contributions influence everything from the selection of services and cultural activities to the format of animations and the way information is shared.
Ville à Joie also ensures long-term citizen engagement through co-reflection meetings, where residents join service providers, businesses, and local officials in discussing how to sustain and expand the initiative beyond the event itself. These meetings give residents an equal voice alongside public and private stakeholders, reinforcing the idea that rural revitalization should be driven by those who experience it firsthand.
Additionally, each event acts as a catalyst for renewed citizen involvement, encouraging volunteerism, associative engagement, and the revitalization of local social groups. The participatory process does not end with the festival—Ville à Joie actively follows up with engaged residents to support the continuation of social, cultural, and economic dynamics initiated during the event.
Beyond this indirect representation, Ville à Joie directly engages residents before, during, and after each event to shape the programming, improve communication, and refine the festival experience. On-site semi-structured interviews, follow-up discussions, and written surveys—approximately twelve per event—allow residents to express their preferences, ideas, and needs. These contributions influence everything from the selection of services and cultural activities to the format of animations and the way information is shared.
Ville à Joie also ensures long-term citizen engagement through co-reflection meetings, where residents join service providers, businesses, and local officials in discussing how to sustain and expand the initiative beyond the event itself. These meetings give residents an equal voice alongside public and private stakeholders, reinforcing the idea that rural revitalization should be driven by those who experience it firsthand.
Additionally, each event acts as a catalyst for renewed citizen involvement, encouraging volunteerism, associative engagement, and the revitalization of local social groups. The participatory process does not end with the festival—Ville à Joie actively follows up with engaged residents to support the continuation of social, cultural, and economic dynamics initiated during the event.
Ville à Joie operates through a multi-level stakeholder engagement model, ensuring that local, regional, and national actors actively shape and implement the project. Each stakeholder contributes expertise, networks, and resources, maximizing impact.
At the local level, municipalities play a key role in anchoring the project. Mayors act as coordinators, identifying community needs, mobilizing associations, and supporting logistics. They connect Ville à Joie with residents, businesses, and volunteers, ensuring that each event reflects local priorities. Their deep knowledge of their villages makes them essential in addressing rural challenges effectively.
Local governments and inter-municipal bodies (community of communes, departmental councils) contribute by providing public services that struggle to reach rural populations, such as healthcare, social security, and employment assistance. Their involvement strengthens the project’s outreach strategy, ensuring services reach those most in need.
A diverse network of intervening partners forms the operational backbone of Ville à Joie. These include:
Public and National institutions (Regional Health Agency, Social Security) seeking to reach under-served rural residents.
Itinerant businesses and local vendors, contributing to economic revitalization while expanding their market.
Local associations, from large social organizations to small clubs (heritage, environment, culture), aiming to recruit volunteers, gain visibility, or provide direct services.
At the regional and national levels, Ville à Joie collaborates with institutional partners that provide funding, policy support, and expertise in rural development. Their involvement helps expand and replicate the model in other underserved areas.
This multi-stakeholder collaboration creates an integrated initiative, where public services, businesses, and communities work together to revitalize rural life, ensuring long-term sustainability and inclusion.
At the local level, municipalities play a key role in anchoring the project. Mayors act as coordinators, identifying community needs, mobilizing associations, and supporting logistics. They connect Ville à Joie with residents, businesses, and volunteers, ensuring that each event reflects local priorities. Their deep knowledge of their villages makes them essential in addressing rural challenges effectively.
Local governments and inter-municipal bodies (community of communes, departmental councils) contribute by providing public services that struggle to reach rural populations, such as healthcare, social security, and employment assistance. Their involvement strengthens the project’s outreach strategy, ensuring services reach those most in need.
A diverse network of intervening partners forms the operational backbone of Ville à Joie. These include:
Public and National institutions (Regional Health Agency, Social Security) seeking to reach under-served rural residents.
Itinerant businesses and local vendors, contributing to economic revitalization while expanding their market.
Local associations, from large social organizations to small clubs (heritage, environment, culture), aiming to recruit volunteers, gain visibility, or provide direct services.
At the regional and national levels, Ville à Joie collaborates with institutional partners that provide funding, policy support, and expertise in rural development. Their involvement helps expand and replicate the model in other underserved areas.
This multi-stakeholder collaboration creates an integrated initiative, where public services, businesses, and communities work together to revitalize rural life, ensuring long-term sustainability and inclusion.
Ville à Joie is built on a cross-disciplinary approach, integrating expertise from healthcare, digital inclusion, housing, commerce, mobility, and culture to create a holistic and impactful solution for rural revitalization. Rather than addressing rural challenges sector by sector, Ville à Joie merges multiple fields into a single, accessible event, allowing residents to find solutions for different aspects of daily life in one place.
Healthcare providers offer preventive care, medical rights support, and aging-in-place solutions, while housing specialists provide advice on home adaptation and energy efficiency. Mobility experts help residents access alternative transportation options, and local commerce and artisans benefit from direct interaction with rural customers, strengthening the local economy. Culture and social ties are embedded in the event through concerts, artistic performances, and interactive activities, ensuring that the experience is not just functional but engaging and attractive for all generations.
Ville à Joie also integrates a transdisciplinary and multidisciplinary methodology in its event design and organization. It combines technical efficiency, digital tools, and AI-driven logistics with social sciences, behavioral psychology, and participatory approaches to maximize engagement. The event planning process blends automated systems, replicable methods, and AI-generated tools to enhance efficiency, allowing Ville à Joie to operate as a structured, mature, and scalable project.
At the same time, a strong human-centered approach ensures that events are designed to be as accessible and welcoming as possible. Social ergonomics and inclusive event design prevent self-censorship, ensuring that even the most disconnected populations feel comfortable attending. Gamification techniques encourage interactions, reducing the stigma around approaching certain stands.
Healthcare providers offer preventive care, medical rights support, and aging-in-place solutions, while housing specialists provide advice on home adaptation and energy efficiency. Mobility experts help residents access alternative transportation options, and local commerce and artisans benefit from direct interaction with rural customers, strengthening the local economy. Culture and social ties are embedded in the event through concerts, artistic performances, and interactive activities, ensuring that the experience is not just functional but engaging and attractive for all generations.
Ville à Joie also integrates a transdisciplinary and multidisciplinary methodology in its event design and organization. It combines technical efficiency, digital tools, and AI-driven logistics with social sciences, behavioral psychology, and participatory approaches to maximize engagement. The event planning process blends automated systems, replicable methods, and AI-generated tools to enhance efficiency, allowing Ville à Joie to operate as a structured, mature, and scalable project.
At the same time, a strong human-centered approach ensures that events are designed to be as accessible and welcoming as possible. Social ergonomics and inclusive event design prevent self-censorship, ensuring that even the most disconnected populations feel comfortable attending. Gamification techniques encourage interactions, reducing the stigma around approaching certain stands.
Ville à Joie offers a unique approach to rural revitalization, distinct from traditional models that rely on fixed infrastructure like shops, third places, or community halls. While effective in some areas, these solutions require sufficient population and economic activity to stay viable, leaving thousands of villages without options.
Instead of relying on permanent spaces, Ville à Joie provides a mobile solution. This ensures even the most isolated communities benefit from essential services and connections.
This model is unparalleled in France and likely in Europe, as it fills a gap in rural development strategies, offering a flexible alternative where permanent venues are unsustainable.
Beyond mobility, Ville à Joie introduces a unique method of engaging residents with services. Instead of simply offering standard service booths, the project leverages festive and interactive experiences to naturally encourage participation. Events feature concerts, food stands, and cultural performances that attract residents who might not otherwise seek out support services. This results in a conversion effect, where 63% of participants initially attend for social or cultural reasons, but 73% ultimately engage with service providers.
To reduce barriers, Ville à Joie uses gamification techniques with interactive activities to help participants visit multiple stands without stigma, creating a natural, welcoming experience. This approach builds trust and familiarity with service providers for residents.
The impact of this approach is tangible: 14.5% of service interactions lead to a concrete step forward, such as starting an administrative procedure. This is a significant improvement over conventional outreach efforts.
Ville à Joie is not just a mobile service platform—it is a behavioral innovation in rural inclusion. By integrating human psychology, event design, and public service accessibility, it creates a replicable model.
Instead of relying on permanent spaces, Ville à Joie provides a mobile solution. This ensures even the most isolated communities benefit from essential services and connections.
This model is unparalleled in France and likely in Europe, as it fills a gap in rural development strategies, offering a flexible alternative where permanent venues are unsustainable.
Beyond mobility, Ville à Joie introduces a unique method of engaging residents with services. Instead of simply offering standard service booths, the project leverages festive and interactive experiences to naturally encourage participation. Events feature concerts, food stands, and cultural performances that attract residents who might not otherwise seek out support services. This results in a conversion effect, where 63% of participants initially attend for social or cultural reasons, but 73% ultimately engage with service providers.
To reduce barriers, Ville à Joie uses gamification techniques with interactive activities to help participants visit multiple stands without stigma, creating a natural, welcoming experience. This approach builds trust and familiarity with service providers for residents.
The impact of this approach is tangible: 14.5% of service interactions lead to a concrete step forward, such as starting an administrative procedure. This is a significant improvement over conventional outreach efforts.
Ville à Joie is not just a mobile service platform—it is a behavioral innovation in rural inclusion. By integrating human psychology, event design, and public service accessibility, it creates a replicable model.
Ville à Joie follows a structured methodology to maximize the impact of its mobile festivals on rural revitalization. It combines territorial analysis, participatory planning, structured event coordination, and behavioral engagement techniques to ensure sustainability and replicability.
The process begins with identifying villages of fewer than 1,000 inhabitants lacking commerce, services, and social infrastructure. These fragile rural areas are prioritized to maximize impact. Local authorities then launch an open call for mayors interested in hosting the festival. They specify the services needed, the associations to mobilize, and logistical capacities. This bottom-up approach ensures interventions are tailored to local needs while fostering strong municipal involvement.
Ville à Joie coordinates service providers across multiple sectors: public services such as healthcare, social security, and administrative aid; local commerce, including itinerant businesses and artisans; and community organizations focused on culture, heritage, or environmental action. Digital project management tools streamline coordination, ensuring smooth logistics.
To ensure participation, Ville à Joie runs a multi-channel outreach campaign, including flyers, village banners, social media, and local press. This attracts an average of 50 attendees per event, reinforcing broad engagement.
Each event follows a structured format. Tents, tables, and seating are arranged to create an inviting space. Gamification techniques, such as interactive challenges, encourage residents to visit multiple stands, preventing stigma around seeking services. Social interactions are designed to include all demographics, especially those disconnected from traditional support systems. The day ends with a cultural or social gathering, such as a quiz or community performance, reinforcing positive dynamics and making public spaces vibrant again.
The process begins with identifying villages of fewer than 1,000 inhabitants lacking commerce, services, and social infrastructure. These fragile rural areas are prioritized to maximize impact. Local authorities then launch an open call for mayors interested in hosting the festival. They specify the services needed, the associations to mobilize, and logistical capacities. This bottom-up approach ensures interventions are tailored to local needs while fostering strong municipal involvement.
Ville à Joie coordinates service providers across multiple sectors: public services such as healthcare, social security, and administrative aid; local commerce, including itinerant businesses and artisans; and community organizations focused on culture, heritage, or environmental action. Digital project management tools streamline coordination, ensuring smooth logistics.
To ensure participation, Ville à Joie runs a multi-channel outreach campaign, including flyers, village banners, social media, and local press. This attracts an average of 50 attendees per event, reinforcing broad engagement.
Each event follows a structured format. Tents, tables, and seating are arranged to create an inviting space. Gamification techniques, such as interactive challenges, encourage residents to visit multiple stands, preventing stigma around seeking services. Social interactions are designed to include all demographics, especially those disconnected from traditional support systems. The day ends with a cultural or social gathering, such as a quiz or community performance, reinforcing positive dynamics and making public spaces vibrant again.
The core methodology—bringing essential services directly to underserved villages through mobile, event-based interventions—is universally applicable. Any rural territory facing service desertification, social isolation, or economic decline can implement a similar model. The structured process of territorial analysis, municipal engagement, multi-sectoral coordination, and participatory governance ensures adaptability to different local needs.
The event format and operational model are easily transferable. For example the structured set-up, service coordination, and outreach strategy allow other regions to adopt the model while customizing it to their population’s specific needs, as well as associated digital tools.
The engagement techniques developed by Ville à Joie—such as gamification strategies, social ergonomics, and community-driven programming—can be replicated in other contexts to reduce barriers to service access. Innovations can be pursued in the future : for example, we are developing an AI-powered chatbot that allows residents to input a need, automatically matching it with the right local service.
The approach is also transferable beyond rural settings. The methodology could be applied to urban peripheries, low-income neighborhoods, or regions affected by social fragmentation, adapting the event structure to the specific needs of different populations.
Ville à Joie is a scalable and transferable model currently expanding across 20 French departments, including Allier, Nièvre, and Loir-et-Cher, building on its success in Cher. The project is also growing at the European level, with initiatives in Belgium. With over 300 events organized in 2024, Ville à Joie has proven its capacity to replicate and adapt, aiming to extend its impact to all rural departments in France and across Europe where revitalization is needed.
The project is closely monitoring and actively considering integration into the EU’s Rural Pact and EU Cohesion policies.
The event format and operational model are easily transferable. For example the structured set-up, service coordination, and outreach strategy allow other regions to adopt the model while customizing it to their population’s specific needs, as well as associated digital tools.
The engagement techniques developed by Ville à Joie—such as gamification strategies, social ergonomics, and community-driven programming—can be replicated in other contexts to reduce barriers to service access. Innovations can be pursued in the future : for example, we are developing an AI-powered chatbot that allows residents to input a need, automatically matching it with the right local service.
The approach is also transferable beyond rural settings. The methodology could be applied to urban peripheries, low-income neighborhoods, or regions affected by social fragmentation, adapting the event structure to the specific needs of different populations.
Ville à Joie is a scalable and transferable model currently expanding across 20 French departments, including Allier, Nièvre, and Loir-et-Cher, building on its success in Cher. The project is also growing at the European level, with initiatives in Belgium. With over 300 events organized in 2024, Ville à Joie has proven its capacity to replicate and adapt, aiming to extend its impact to all rural departments in France and across Europe where revitalization is needed.
The project is closely monitoring and actively considering integration into the EU’s Rural Pact and EU Cohesion policies.
One of the primary challenges in rural areas is low population density, which makes it difficult to implement traditional service models. Progress can be slow, as the success of initiatives depends on deep local anchoring, trust-building, and long-term engagement. Ville à Joie overcomes this by investing in pre-event territorial analysis and local network-building, ensuring that each intervention is strategically placed where it is most needed and where communities are ready to engage. The project’s pre-existing methodology and digital coordination tools allow organizers to focus less on logistical constraints and more on human interactions, ensuring meaningful community participation.
Another challenge is the need to find committed local actors, including mayors, municipal leaders, and service providers willing to actively participate. Ville à Joie conducts a detailed assessment of each region before launching activities, ensuring that local stakeholders are ready to engage. This preliminary analysis and selection process is essential for long-term success, ensuring that the events generate sustainable engagement rather than isolated interventions.
A final challenge is reaching the most isolated individuals, particularly those who no longer leave their homes and are disconnected from social and public services. Even with Ville à Joie’s accessible format, some residents remain hard to reach. To overcome this, Ville à Joie organizes door-to-door outreach campaigns, where trained young volunteers discreetly and warmly engage with isolated individuals, encouraging them to reconnect with their community.
Another challenge is the need to find committed local actors, including mayors, municipal leaders, and service providers willing to actively participate. Ville à Joie conducts a detailed assessment of each region before launching activities, ensuring that local stakeholders are ready to engage. This preliminary analysis and selection process is essential for long-term success, ensuring that the events generate sustainable engagement rather than isolated interventions.
A final challenge is reaching the most isolated individuals, particularly those who no longer leave their homes and are disconnected from social and public services. Even with Ville à Joie’s accessible format, some residents remain hard to reach. To overcome this, Ville à Joie organizes door-to-door outreach campaigns, where trained young volunteers discreetly and warmly engage with isolated individuals, encouraging them to reconnect with their community.
Ville à Joie has made a measurable impact on rural revitalization between 2022 and 2024, organizing 58 events, reaching 4,060 participants, facilitating 6,960 service interactions, and initiating 1,044 administrative procedures. The project strengthens social cohesion, local economies, and access to essential services, fully aligning with the New European Bauhaus vision.
By bringing services back to villages, Ville à Joie reduces travel needs and environmental impact. Each event prevents 2880 km of car travel, totaling 167 040 km avoided, avoiding an equivalent of 30 tons of eqCO₂ emissions. The project reaches a diverse demographic, with 44% of participants aged 36-60, 32% over 60, and 24% under 35.
Ville à Joie also revitalizes local economies, generating €500 per event for local businesses and associations, totaling €29,000 across 58 events. This direct economic boost supports small producers, itinerant vendors, and artisans, reinforcing village markets and local hubs. In Saint-Caprais and Dampierre-en-Graçay, new vendors have joined existing markets, sustaining economic activity.
The project leaves a lasting impact. In Pigny and Saint-Laurent, regular mobile health services have been established, filling healthcare gaps. In Quincy, Ville à Joie inspired the municipal council to launch a project with the regional land agency to rehabilitate a former business space into a commercial site. In Arcay, discussions are underway for an itinerant café, reinforcing public spaces’ role in community life.
Ville à Joie triggers a virtuous cycle of local engagement. Following the events, Saint-Caprais organized new community-led initiatives, while Saint-Michel saw two new associations created. In January 2025, Saint-Laurent will launch senior health courses and digital literacy programs, supported by a digital bus. These examples show how Ville à Joie not only reconnects residents but also drives long-term revitalization efforts.
By bringing services back to villages, Ville à Joie reduces travel needs and environmental impact. Each event prevents 2880 km of car travel, totaling 167 040 km avoided, avoiding an equivalent of 30 tons of eqCO₂ emissions. The project reaches a diverse demographic, with 44% of participants aged 36-60, 32% over 60, and 24% under 35.
Ville à Joie also revitalizes local economies, generating €500 per event for local businesses and associations, totaling €29,000 across 58 events. This direct economic boost supports small producers, itinerant vendors, and artisans, reinforcing village markets and local hubs. In Saint-Caprais and Dampierre-en-Graçay, new vendors have joined existing markets, sustaining economic activity.
The project leaves a lasting impact. In Pigny and Saint-Laurent, regular mobile health services have been established, filling healthcare gaps. In Quincy, Ville à Joie inspired the municipal council to launch a project with the regional land agency to rehabilitate a former business space into a commercial site. In Arcay, discussions are underway for an itinerant café, reinforcing public spaces’ role in community life.
Ville à Joie triggers a virtuous cycle of local engagement. Following the events, Saint-Caprais organized new community-led initiatives, while Saint-Michel saw two new associations created. In January 2025, Saint-Laurent will launch senior health courses and digital literacy programs, supported by a digital bus. These examples show how Ville à Joie not only reconnects residents but also drives long-term revitalization efforts.
