Moving beyond stereotypes in citizen participation: Exploring citizens’ and professionals’ expectations of participation
(2024) VBRM15 20241Division of Risk Management and Societal Safety
- Abstract
- Conventional democratic institutions are unable to sufficiently incorporate citizens’ views in the context of a changing climate. The lack of a shared understanding of what citizen participation entails and what it should look like limits the potential for effective engagement. Postulating that citizen participation in policy-making processes could contribute to better decisions regarding flood risk management and climate change adaptation, this study aims to explore how citizens and professionals understand participatory processes, and how aligning their expectations can inform the design of such approaches. This study uses an explorative case study in the context of two flood-prone municipalities in Sweden and the Netherlands, i.e. Gävle... (More)
- Conventional democratic institutions are unable to sufficiently incorporate citizens’ views in the context of a changing climate. The lack of a shared understanding of what citizen participation entails and what it should look like limits the potential for effective engagement. Postulating that citizen participation in policy-making processes could contribute to better decisions regarding flood risk management and climate change adaptation, this study aims to explore how citizens and professionals understand participatory processes, and how aligning their expectations can inform the design of such approaches. This study uses an explorative case study in the context of two flood-prone municipalities in Sweden and the Netherlands, i.e. Gävle and Roermond. Here, professionals and citizens are interviewed to gain insights into their perspectives and expectations. The results of this study indicate a willingness among both groups for greater and earlier involvement of citizens, but the suggested degree of influence and form differs. The lack of technical knowledge among citizens and the responsibility governments have to protect residents are presented as barriers. To avoid ambiguity, disappointment, and mistrust, citizens’ expectations should be well managed from the beginning. In addition, achieving a representative and diverse audience to promote inclusivity is identified as a great challenge in public engagement. Based on these results, local authorities can work on the implications for practice, aimed at transparency throughout the process, expectation management, and a revaluation of local knowledge. (Less)
- Popular Abstract
- Managing tomorrow’s floods: improving cooperation between citizens and governments
Engaging with citizens is increasingly seen as a way to tackle the challenges caused by climate change. However, stereotypes about citizen participation, such as citizens not having any technical knowledge, or that governments invite citizens only symbolically persist. Using a case study in Roermond, the Netherlands, and Gävle, Sweden, this study found that people have different understandings of participation, which mostly limits the opportunities for successful participation. The data is collected through semi-structured interviews with 23 people, both professionals and citizens.
This study looks at four main themes: what is participation, who is... (More) - Managing tomorrow’s floods: improving cooperation between citizens and governments
Engaging with citizens is increasingly seen as a way to tackle the challenges caused by climate change. However, stereotypes about citizen participation, such as citizens not having any technical knowledge, or that governments invite citizens only symbolically persist. Using a case study in Roermond, the Netherlands, and Gävle, Sweden, this study found that people have different understandings of participation, which mostly limits the opportunities for successful participation. The data is collected through semi-structured interviews with 23 people, both professionals and citizens.
This study looks at four main themes: what is participation, who is involved, when can input be given, and how is it conducted? Citizen participation is seen as including citizens in the policy-making process, but the roles and impact of this inclusion are not agreed upon. It is difficult to gain a broad diversity of opinions since certain groups, such as middle-aged, white, high-educated men often dominate participation. People who are feeling the effects of climate change, such as through flooded basements or badly insulated houses, are insufficiently heard in decision-making. When to involve citizens in a project is a dilemma since in the beginning, the plans might be too abstract for citizens to understand what they can contribute, whereas possibilities for impact decrease when a project develops. Despite these challenges, there is consensus on involving citizens earlier to improve the quality of decisions. To avoid disappointment among citizens and a decline in trust, everyone’s expectations must be managed beforehand. Finally, there are challenges in how participation is organised, for example in the time it costs to prepare and attend meetings, the option of online input, the knowledge that is required, and the ways of interaction between citizens and governments.
People have different ideas about how much influence citizens should have and how they should take part. Although this is seen as an interesting, new idea, there is little support for giving citizens the power to make decisions. People think that citizens do not have enough knowledge about policy issues to take part, so this is left to experts and citizen representatives. Based on this study, some ideas for practice have been defined. For example, it is important that everyone knows who is responsible for what, in what ways input can be included in the project, and how experts’ knowledge can be balanced with citizens’ knowledge. This may help local governments in the Netherlands and Sweden to prepare for a changing climate in a collective way. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9167579
- author
- Vermeulen, Thijs Joop Willem LU and Weimar, Tom LU
- supervisor
-
- Misse Wester LU
- organization
- course
- VBRM15 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Citizen participation, public engagement, expectations, flood risk management, climate change adaptation, professionals, citizens, Sweden, the Netherlands
- language
- English
- id
- 9167579
- date added to LUP
- 2024-06-25 11:31:15
- date last changed
- 2024-06-25 11:31:15
@misc{9167579,
abstract = {{Conventional democratic institutions are unable to sufficiently incorporate citizens’ views in the context of a changing climate. The lack of a shared understanding of what citizen participation entails and what it should look like limits the potential for effective engagement. Postulating that citizen participation in policy-making processes could contribute to better decisions regarding flood risk management and climate change adaptation, this study aims to explore how citizens and professionals understand participatory processes, and how aligning their expectations can inform the design of such approaches. This study uses an explorative case study in the context of two flood-prone municipalities in Sweden and the Netherlands, i.e. Gävle and Roermond. Here, professionals and citizens are interviewed to gain insights into their perspectives and expectations. The results of this study indicate a willingness among both groups for greater and earlier involvement of citizens, but the suggested degree of influence and form differs. The lack of technical knowledge among citizens and the responsibility governments have to protect residents are presented as barriers. To avoid ambiguity, disappointment, and mistrust, citizens’ expectations should be well managed from the beginning. In addition, achieving a representative and diverse audience to promote inclusivity is identified as a great challenge in public engagement. Based on these results, local authorities can work on the implications for practice, aimed at transparency throughout the process, expectation management, and a revaluation of local knowledge.}},
author = {{Vermeulen, Thijs Joop Willem and Weimar, Tom}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Moving beyond stereotypes in citizen participation: Exploring citizens’ and professionals’ expectations of participation}},
year = {{2024}},
}