In the next few decades, we have to embrace new mindsets, skills, practices and solutions to push humanity on a more benign path of development.
By translating people’s needs into tomorrow’s innovations, services & policies, we believe we can contribute to a more sustainable future.
Examples
Swimming & the relationship to water
With an increase in the number of practitioners and the development of new activities such as open water swimming, we are witnessing a revival of swimming. As an activity, it has many faces: gentle or demanding; therapeutic, meditative or dynamic. In that respect swimming seems to echo the needs of our time.
Now that swimming pools are opening again after the Covid-19 lockdowns, swimming is experiencing a revival with an increase in the number of swimmers and the development of new activities, such as open water swimming, swim run etc. The act of swimming and the feeling of freedom it provides, seems to correspond to the needs and desires of our time. Decathlon contacted Méthos to understand these changes and support the development of the Nabaiji brand worldwide.
• Listen to the podcasts (in French)
Youth Civic Engagement
Some claim that young people do not engage themselves anymore in social issues. This statement doesn’t hold. Through two studies and a participation project, Méthos demonstrates youth civic engagement is alive and kicking.
How do young people engage in social issues today? Which mechanisms are at play and how can we best stimulate them? Commissioned by Enabel, the Belgian development agency, and the international NGO Plan International Belgium, Méthos delved into the broad topic of youth engagement.
• Download the Enabel report (fr/nl/en)
• Download Plan International report (fr-nl)
• Watch the making-of
• Listen to the podcasts (fr/nl)
An Alliance for Renovation
Energy-efficient renovation is a challenge that requires the mobilization of a multitude of actors, all with different backgrounds, professional skills and ways of working. Through the creation of a private-public alliance, we help them to work as one team.
Create a thriving collaboration between public administrations and private actors in order to achieve the energy-efficient renovation objectives for the Brussels-Capital Region: a project about stakeholder management and collective intelligence.
Water Poverty
Water is a fundamental right, everyone needs access to sufficient water of good quality. In cities like Brussels, however, some people do not have access to water, a reality which is difficult to accept.
In big cities such as Brussels, some people living in poverty do not have access to water. Together with regional public services and a number of local social partners, Méthos studied this phenomenon and worked on solutions to tackle this problem.
• Download the full report (fr)
LGBTQI+ in Brussels
How do people experience acts of aggression against one’s sexual orientation and gender identity in the Brussel space? A study for Equal.brussels
The streets of Brussels don’t always feel safe for LGBTQI+. Even today, LGBTQI+ experience insecurity, discrimination and violence. Méthos sheds light on the microdynamics of gender-related aggressions in the Brussels public space.
Energy-efficient housing
The standards for energy-efficient buildings are reshaping the way people live in them. The question, then, is how to factor people into the way new-generation buildings are designed and managed.
Energy-efficient homes are changing people’s lifestyles. On this project, Méthos worked with dwellers, housing organisations and authorities to integrate the human dimension more effectively in new construction standards.
• Download the abstract (fr / nl)
• Bruxelles Environnement
Children's rights
Involving children from the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles in preparing policy on their rights, with debates and artistic workshops.
A participatory journey with over 100 children from the French-speaking Belgian Community, to prepare policy on their rights. We spent a year in workshops, creating, debating and feeling moved.
• Download the report (fr)
• Watch the video
Participation in co-housing projects
An overview of best practices and the most effective ways of applying participatory methods to housing projects. What does participatory design involve? Why involve tenants in it? What strategies and tools work best? A study for the King Baudouin Foundation.
With a view to disseminating co-design philosophy, the King Baudouin Foundation asked Méthos to map out best practices and methods to foster participation in designing or renovating buildings.
Recreational running
Building and positioning a brand for runners, starting with an ethnographic study of practices in Europe and China, for Décathlon. A study for Décathlon.
In a matter of years, recreational running has swept across the planet and become a social phenomenon. Décathlon asked Méthos to shed light on these shifts and build a global development strategy, with a focus on China. A project which combines ethnography, consulting and design thinking.
The liberated company
There is a lot of theory about liberated companies, but not many liberated companies as such. Most of the process is still unexplored. Méthos worked with an SNCF subsidiary on its journey to this new organisational model.
The liberation of companies has often been theorised but rarely been put into practice, so little is known about the actual process as yet. Méthos worked with an SNCF subsidiary (French Rail) on its journey to this new organisational model.
Re-inventing coach travel
Developing and launching French railway operator SNCF’s first European long-distance bus service, in partnership with id-sl.
The development and launch of the first pan-European long-distance bus travel with French railway operator SNCF. In partnership with id-sl.
The future of automobiles
Bringing the vehicles of the future into focus, starting with ways people use electric cars. Because electric cars today are the closest step to the autonomous cars of tomorrow.
Bringing the vehicles of the future into focus, starting with ways people use electric cars. Because electric cars today are the closest step to the autonomous cars of tomorrow.
Senior mobility
An ethnography study as a starting point for innovation for French rail operator SNCF.
Mobility in all its forms, including routine outings, day to day commutes, tourism is booming while the population is in the same time ageing. Combine these two trends and it’s easy to see why senior mobility is one of the most vital aspects of ageing well. Méthos has studied senior mobility in trains for SNCF, the French rail operator.