Against the backdrop of depopulation and Big Society, citizen initiatives in rural areas are believed to be able to mitigate service-provision inequalities between urban and peripheral regions. Factors influencing the success and failure of such citizen initiatives and their potential in providing solutions to perceived problems have thus far hardly been explored. Our previous work on potential aspects of success and failure indicates that the durability of an initiative does not necessarily define the success of the initiative. Studies have neglected the question of continuity and what will happen when the initiators put down their efforts. In what way do initiators transfer their responsibility and is there a sense of problem ownership?This paper aims to conceptualize factors influencing the continuity of citizen initiatives and provide insight in the processes that take place when initiators stop their activities. Further, the study aims to identify who claims ownership of the issue the initiative focuses on. An inventory of citizen initiatives was made in the three northern provinces of the Netherlands, where rural areas experience depopulation. Questionnaires focusing on how initiatives think about their future, especially when the initiators stop, were sent to around 600 initiatives. The results will add to future research on success and failure of citizen initiatives, but also provide insights for citizen initiatives and ways local governments try to facilitate them.
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A small group of people managing a swimming pool to prevent it from closing, or a group taking care of a next door public green area. These are examples of citizen initiatives and they are becoming more and more prevalent. Citizen initiatives are a way for citizens to organize themselves and take action to arrange those activities that otherwise would not take place but are nevertheless important to them. But how and under which circumstances do these initiatives function? And how is continuity warranted? This research will focus on the continuity and success and failure factors of citizen initiatives in depopulating rural areas.
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In the shift towards the Big Society, it is widely proclaimed that citizen participation and citizens’ initiatives are indispensable to maintaining services that used to be run by local or regional governments. Despite the increased interest in citizens’ initiatives, research has scarcely debated what actually defines the success of such initiatives. Using focus group discussions, this study examined the meanings and norms collectively constructed by government officials and professionals regarding the success and failure of citizens’ initiatives in rural areas. Remarkably, we found that the professional perspectiveof successful citizens’ initiatives was not dominated by the achievement of actualpolicy targets or project goals, such as maintaining public services. Rather, an initiative was perceived as successful as long as citizens are continuously active and in charge. Arguably, this somewhat paternalistic professional view of successful citizens’ initiatives could be challenged by the volunteers in those initiatives.
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Citizen participation is booming, especially the number of urban bottom-up initiatives where information and communication technologies (ICT) are deployed is increasing rapidly. This growth is good news for society as recent historical research shows that the more citizens actively and persistently interfere with public issues, the more likely a society will be resilient. And yet, at the same time, a growing number of scholars argue that due to the unprecedented impact of ICT, the public sphere is at stake. How to understand both trends? How do the anti-‘public sphere’ developments relate to the growing number of citizens’ initiatives using ICT? And if these citizen initiatives can indeed be understood as manifestations of public spheres, how can ICT foster or hinder the development of these public spheres? These questions will be explored by analyzing a Dutch citizen initiative called ‘Buuv’ (an online ‘market’ place for and by local residents) from a ‘public sphere’ perspective. The author will turn to The human condition (1958) of Hannah Arendt in order to elaborate a ‘public sphere’ perspective. An Arendtian perspective (as any perspective) highlights, however, some aspects and underexposes other aspects. Furthermore, chances are that Arendt’s thoughts are somewhat outdated, in the sense that we now live in a world where the online and the offline life intertwine — an experience that is referred to with the term ‘onlife’. Bearing these remarks in mind, the author will elaborate on the value of Arendt’s ideas to 1) the endeavor of understanding current trends in society—more urban bottom-up initiatives and anti-‘public sphere’ developments due to the broad uptake of ICT—and 2) the endeavor of revitalizing the public sphere in an onlife world. IEEE copyright
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The energy transition requires the transformation of communities and neighbourhoods. It will have huge ramifications throughout society. Many cities, towns and villages have put together ambitious visions about how to achieve e.g. energy neutrality, zero-emission or zero-impact. What is happening at the local level towards realizing these ambitions? In a set of case study’s we investigate the following questions: How are self-organized local energy initiatives performing their self-set tasks? What obstacles are present in the current societal set-up that can hinder decentralized energy production? In our cases local leadership, vision, level of communication and type of organisation are important factors of the strength of the ‘local network’. (Inter)national energy policy and existing energy companies largely determine the ‘global’ or outside network. Stronger regional and national support structures, as well as an enabling environment for decentralized energy production, are needed to make decentralized sustainable energy production a success.
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Het strategisch project Citizen Science for a Healthy Lifestyle is gestart op 1 november 2019. Het project had als doel: kennis, ervaring, scholing en internationalisering op het thema Citizen Science for Healthy Lifestyle bevorderen. Deze strategische fonds heeft op concrete wijze vorm en inhoud gegeven aan de visie en doelen van het CoE HA. Deze aanvraag heeft mede geleid tot het benoemen van Citizen Science als belangrijke enabler/versneller binnen de visie van het CoE HA. In jaar 1 lag het accent op scholing (expert conference/workshop etc.) en de opzet van een 3-tal pilots. In jaar 2 werd de opgedane kennis en ervaring verwerkt in ontwikkelde onderwijs modules Citizen Science. De Hanzehogeschool stelt zich tot doel waarde en impact te cre ren in Noord-Nederland, met de inzet van onderwijs, onderzoek en innovatie. De strategie van het Centre of Expertise Healthy Ageing (CoE HA) belicht drie thema’s: 1) gelijkheid en participatie in gezondheidszorg, 2) gezonde leefstijl en omgeving, en 3) kwetsbaarheid en passende zorg. Zowel als onderzoek/innovatiestrategie en als middel om burgers en gemeenschappen te betrekken, speelt Citizen Science for health een belangrijke rol in het mogelijk maken en versnellen van processen binnen de drie thema’s. Citizen Science kan gedefinieerd worden als een vorm van onderzoekssamenwerking en co-creatie die burgers betrekt bij onderzoek en innovatie om concrete vraagstukken aan te pakken, en die dus vereist dat niet-professionele bijdragers onderdeel van de samenwerking zijn.Belangrijkste resultaten:• Citizen Science is mede door deze strategische fonds aanvraag en van de drie enablers geworden in de nieuwe CoE HA strategische koers 2021-2026;• Opstart pilots van Living Lab Beweegvriendelijk Vinkhuizen, Living Lab Oldambt Tijd voor Toekomst en Meer Gezonde Jaren Appingedam. Mede door blijvende investering en honorering van Living Labs Sport en Bewegen van ZonMw; Het gaat hier om een netwerksubsidie (8 maanden), lokale verankering (12 maanden) en experiment subsidie (5 maanden);• Integratie Citizen Science in Erasmus+ capacity building project Sustainable Wellbeing (SUSWELL);• Ontwikkeling SPRONG-aanvraag op het thema Citizen Science (deadline 31 mei 2022);• Diverse scholingsactiviteiten en workshops (master HAP, bachelor, docent-onderzoekers van de Healthy Ageing schools, studiedagen) hebben in 2020, 2021 en 2022 plaatsgevonden;• Studie tweedaagse over Citizen Science gehouden voor studenten en docent-onderzoekers CoE HA en KC Noorderruimte;• Samenwerking met Stanford University en Our Voice: Citizen Science for Health Equity network gerealiseerd;• Positioning statement Citizen Science geschreven in NL en EN;• Lid geworden van European Citizen Science Association (ECSA);• Scholingsmateriaal ontwikkeld voor studenten en docent-onderzoekers van de vijf schools vallend onder Healthy Ageing;• Ontwikkeling NWO-subsidie aanvraag maatschappelijk verdien vermogen over citizen-student Science voor studenten welzijn tijdens en na de Corona pandemie (deadline voorjaar 2022);• Postdoc aanstelling Citizen Science vanuit het CoE HA.• Met de Citizen Science scholingsactiviteiten zijn in totaal 270 bachelor studenten, 145 master studenten, 279 docent-onderzoekers, 109 professionals en 180 burgers bereikt verspreid over de verschillende pilots.Aanbevelingen:• Mede op basis van de impact van praktijkgericht onderzoek op praktijk, onderwijs en onderzoek (PRIME-model pagina 29), doorgaan met onderwijs en praktijk ontwikkelingen. De bijdrage aan het wetenschappelijke/onderzoeksdomein op Citizen Science verdient dekomende jaren extra aandacht;• Mede op basis van bevindingen visitatie terugkoppeling CoE HA (6-7 april 2022), verder doorontwikkelen tot herkend en erkend expertisecentrum op Citizen Science in de context van (publieke) gezondheidsdomein;• De komende jaren verder investeren in mensen en middelen in Citizen Science zodat het een van de leidende aanpakken wordt binnen onderwijs-onderzoek binnen het CoE HA zodat de Hanze zich ontwikkelt tot een expertisecentrum (o.a. m.b.v. SPRONG);• Komende jaren verder kennis en expertise ontwikkelen op Citizen Science door eigenonderzoek (promovendi/postdocs) en scholing;• Citizen Science integreren in relevante onderzoeksprojectaanvragen;• Citizen Science verder integreren in de drie inhoudelijke thema’s van het CoE HA;• Citizen Science onderwijsmodules en scholingen implementeren in het onderwijs van studenten (bachelors, masters) en bij- en nascholing van docent-onderzoekers.
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The paper describes the first implementation of the Unified Citizen Engagement Approach (UCEA), a newly developed design-oriented framework for citizen engagement in the energy transition. The preliminary testing and evaluation of several of its pathways in Groningen, the Netherlands, show that the role of design in the energy transition is not limited to the adoption of (co)design tools and methods. Instead, design should be integrated in the process in a more holistic way and on multiple levels, taking into account broader issues than energy, the maturity of local initiatives, and effective communication with stakeholders.
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Study of new networks that are currently emerging in the local energy initiatives.
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In the last decade, the number of local energy initiatives (LEIs) has increased in western European countries. Although several success factors and barriers in the development of LEIs have been studied by other scholars, there has been limited scholarly interest in the overall impact of LEIs so far. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore their impact by determining their achievement. Additionally, levels of engagement were used to categorise the success factors for and barriers that impede this impact. Initiatives in two provinces in the north of the Netherlands were studied. For the data collection, 84 in-depth interviews were conducted with the initiators of LEIs. In general, it can be concluded that the impact of LEIs is limited. Success factors and barriers in the development of LEIs play out at different levels of engagement: the level of the initiative itself; the community level; and the public–private level. Theoretically, this study provides empirical insights on how to measure the impact of LEIs. Furthermore, the study brings together a variety of factors that influence this impact based on the levels of engagement. Practically, this research offers indications on how to contribute to the further development of LEIs.
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HCI and design research has turned toward exploring methods, technologies, processes for societal impact, and do so by intervening in the real world and designing for, with and by people and existing citizen initiatives. A key issue faced is enabling efforts to continue beyond the project or grant timeline. For this reason, there is a growing need to create a forum where researchers and practitioners can share their approaches to shed light on opportunities and challenges of supporting lasting civic initiatives moving forward. This workshop aims to bring together researchers and practitioners interested in how to make civic initiatives have lasting impact: either by supporting and sustaining such initiatives or by focusing on how their outcomes increase people's capacity to act on their ideas and wishes.
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