Oijen, Thomas van (2023) Ecovillages, local governments, and local sustainability goals in the Netherlands. How two ecovillages potentially contribute to local sustainability goals through invited and invented spaces of participation in Wageningen and Nijmegen. Master thesis.
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Thesis T. van Oijen, s4499727, Final February 2023.pdf Download (8MB) | Preview |
Abstract
The Dutch Government has set sustainability-oriented goals in the Dutch coalition agreement, that partially inspired-, and trickled down to local coalition agreements in several municipalities throughout the Netherlands. An upcoming Dutch environmental law ankers sustainability related values in the Dutch society, and theoretically offers Dutch citizens easier access to participate in spatial related developments in their municipalities. Therefore, it is relevant for policymakers and scholars to scrutinize citizen-initiatives that presumably are drivers for sustainability-related contributions to local sustainability-oriented goals in their municipalities. The aim of this thesis is to explore the phenomena of ecovillages and their presumed potential for contributing to sustainability related objectives in the Netherlands, while at the same time investigate the ways how they participate in society and interact with local governments. This thesis explores (local-) civil participation related to local sustainability goals presented in two municipal coalition agreements. The research is executed by the hand of investigating two ecovillages through the lens of invited and invented spaces of citizen participation. In a nutshell, invited spaces of participation are characterized as spaces wherein citizens add value to society within a set of rules predetermined by local governments, while invented spaces of participation also add societal value, but are characterized as ‘bottom-up’, rather radical, and not predetermined by local governments. This exploration is executed with a multiple case study in Wageningen and Nijmegen. The research is conducted through a desk-research, combined with local policy analyses, and interviews with ecovillage-inhabitants, -initiators, and local governmental employees of Wageningen and Nijmegen. It is researched how the two ecovillages potentially contribute to local sustainability goals, how they interact with local governments, and what enabling- and or constraining factors are for ecovillages to thrive in the Netherlands. The results show that the researched ecovillages contribute to local sustainability goals through (1) providing social safety nets; (2) creating objects and organizing projects that aim to (re-)generate-, re-use, and provide sustainable energy-, land, water-, and food production, and; (3) education, whether or not onsite- and via tours, events, or other (creative-) ways. Additionally, the results show that communication and interactions between ecovillages and local-governments, and national-level policies and laws, both enable- and constrain ecovillages to establish themselves. Furthermore, it is concluded interactions between ecovillages and local governments are dynamic, complex, and go beyond the notion of invited versus invented spaces of participation. Therefore, a tool is suggested for citizen-initiatives, and local governments that smoothen collaborations for shared sustainability-oriented objectives and its implementations.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
|---|---|
| Degree programme: | Society, Sustainability and Planning (MSc Socio-spatial Planning) |
| Supervisor: | Trell-Zuidema, E.M. |
| Date Deposited: | 07 Mar 2023 10:58 |
| Last Modified: | 07 Mar 2023 10:58 |
| URI: | https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/4125 |
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