Burgler, Jesse (2023) The Socioeconomic Heat Transition. Master thesis.
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Abstract
In order to battle climate change, the Dutch climate act contains the compliance to make the transition from a residential heat system based on natural gas towards a system based on sustainable sources of heat. To do this, the Dutch government designed a participatory approach on the level of neighbourhoods (Dutch: Programma Aardgasvrije Wijken). In this programme, municipalities are given the authority to design and steer the participation processes. As literature stresses the importance to understand the neighbourhood factors underlying successful and unsuccessful participation, this research aims to study the role of the socioeconomic context of neighbourhoods in explaining the participation of citizens in the heat transition process. To do this, a comparative case study is conducted on four neighbourhoods with varying socioeconomic contexts. These are Ramplaankwartier (Haarlem), van der Pekbuurt (Amsterdam), Bospolder-Tussendijken (Rotterdam), and Overvecht Noord (Utrecht). Data on these cases is collected by means of semistructured interviews with key actors involved in the participation processes. Through a literature study on socioeconomic context factors and participation, a framework is developed to analyse the data. This includes several socioeconomic context factors that can have a role in explaining the participation of citizens divided into four branches: their willingness to participate, ability to participate, opportunity to participate, and actual participation. The results show that the role of the socioeconomic context in explaining the participation of citizens in the heat transition can be kept limited when a well-designed and inclusive participation process is implemented. However, in neighbourhoods with a better socioeconomic context, citizens activate themselves more quickly to participate due to motivations like environmental awareness. Finally, the results show that the socioeconomic context of a neighbourhood can function as a catalysator for participation in the heat transition independent of the authorities, facilitating a bottom-up and citizenled process.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
|---|---|
| Degree programme: | Economic Geography |
| Supervisor: | Edzes, A.J.E. |
| Date Deposited: | 25 Jul 2023 13:48 |
| Last Modified: | 25 Jul 2023 13:48 |
| URI: | https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/4288 |
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