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109 in a sports hall in Borne on 20 May 2017. A second follow-up event to the Citizens’ Summit was organised on 8 June 2016 by the Sustainable Borne Foundation with the support of the G1000 organisation. During this second event, working groups were formed around the themes, which had been identified during the Citizens’ Summit. During the summer, the working groups elaborated on their ideas and proposals, which they presented on 7 December 2017 during a concluding
‘handover evening’ in the Kulturhus in Borne. The Stichting Duurzam Borne organised this final meeting with the support of the local municipality. For this final meeting, besides working groups, all social partners of the initiative MijnBorne2030 were invited. This meeting aimed to hand over the elaboration and implementation of the results of the G1000 initiative to the municipality and to establish connections between the working groups and important partners in the local community (social partners of the MijnBorne2030 initiative).
5.5.2 The G1000 Firework dialogue in Enschede
The G1000 Fireworks Dialogue was initiated by the newly elected mayor in Enschede in early 2017 in response to many fireworks-related problems that occurred on New Year’s Eve 2017/18 (e.g. fireworks noise nuisance problem, high repair costs for collateral damage and illegal fireworks use). However, fireworks problems did not occur for the first time in Enschede on New Year’s Eve 2017/18. For years, the municipality of Enschede has repeatedly had to deal with problems related to the misuse of fireworks on New Year’s Eve. Moreover, the issue of fireworks is a sensitive one, especially in Enschede, as in 2000 a fireworks warehouse exploded in the city centre area, killing 23 people.
To talk about the (re)emerging problems related to fireworks on New Year’s Eve and thus properly address the sensitive issue, the mayor, therefore, intended to involve as many Enschede citizens as possible in a city-wide dialogue. Through this dialogue, he wanted to generate
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binding agreement(s) on the use of fireworks in Enschede to ensure a more pleasant coexistence on New Year’s Eve in the future. To set up such a city-wide dialogue, but also to try out new forms of citizen participation, the mayor decided to turn to the citizens’ initiative G1000.nu.
As for its process structure, the G1000 Fireworks Dialogue was developed by the G1000 organisation as a continuous citizen participation process consisting of a series of formal events and activities, culminating in a final Citizens’ Decision, which should then ideally be legally confirmed by the city council. The G1000 organisation implemented and organised this process in cooperation with a steering group (Dutch: ‘Regiegroep stadsdialoog vuurwerk’) formed for this initiative, consisting of a group of officials from the municipality of Enschede. As far as formal events are concerned, the G1000 process in Enschede, like in Borne, started with a large-scale deliberative event, the Citizens’ Summit, which took place on 10 June 2017 in the Twentehallen in Enschede. A second G1000 event, the Citizens’
Forum, took place in the Enschede town hall on 1 July 2017. In Enschede, too, the main goal of this second meeting was to form the working groups around the themes that emerged from the Citizens’
Summit. As in Borne, at the end of the Citizens’ Forum event, the working groups were instructed to develop a written proposal related to their themes during the following Citizens’ Forum phase. To create support for their proposals, they were also asked to involve as many inhabitants of the city of Enschede as possible in their plans and the development of their proposals during this five-month phase (1 July 2017 to 11 November 2017). In addition, the G1000 organisation organised three workshops during the Citizens’ Forum phase, where the working groups could present their ideas to each other and receive feedback on their ideas from experts in the field. On 11 November 2017, a final meeting (in Dutch: ‘Slotbijeenkomst’) was organised in Enschede’s city hall during which the working groups had to present
111 and defend their proposals in front of three panels of citizens, politicians and professionals during the morning session. During the afternoon session, the remaining participants made a so-called ‘Citizen Decision’ (Dutch: Burgerbesluit) that included all the proposals that were adopted during a plenary vote. At the end of the final event, the Citizens’ Decision was formally signed by all voting participants and handed over to the mayor with the request to present the Citizens’
Decision to the city council for formal adoption and implementation.
At the end of the closing meeting, the participants of the G1000 could sign up for the monitoring group to further monitor the implementation of the Citizens’ Decision.
5.5.3 The G1000 Steenwijkerland
Steenwijkerland, located in the north-western corner of the Dutch province of Overijssel, can be considered a fairly new municipality, having been created in 2001 by the merger of the three municipalities of Steenwijk, Bredewiede and IJsselham. In recent years, Steenwijkerland has been preparing itself for a necessary energy transition, driven by the social need to switch from nearly-exhausted fossil fuels (such as coal, oil, and gas) to more sustainable energy sources, such as solar panels and windmills. However, the municipality’s large-scale efforts and plans in the past to meet its 2020 energy target1 were hampered by much resistance from its residents. The main reasons for this resistance were that some of the municipality’s plans had a significant spatial impact on the living environment of its citizens (e.g., placing windmills in the vicinity of residential areas). Therefore, the municipality of Steenwijkerland decided to co-organise a three-phase G1000 participation process in 2017 to facilitate a good dialogue
1 “In 2020, the municipality will generate a volume of new energy equivalent to the household energy consumption within the municipality” (“Omgevingsvisie Steenwijkerland,” 2017, p. 16).
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between all parties involved and find a more broadly supported approach to realise its energy objectives in the future.
Just like in Enschede, the citizens’ participation process in Steenwijkerland included three main events, starting with a Citizens’
Summit (Dutch: ‘Burgertop’), followed by a Citizens’ Forum (Dutch:
‘Burgerforum’) and Citizens’ Forum phase, culminating in a final Citizens’ Decision which was taken at the end of the final event, the Citizens’ Council (Dutch: ‘Burgerraad’). Under the motto “How can we make Steenwijkerland collectively energy-neutral in 2030?”, the Citizens’ Summit took place on 18 November 2017 in the Steenwijkerland theatre ‘De Meenthe’. The second event of the G1000 Steenwijkerland, the Citizens’ Forum, also took place in the theatre of Steenwijkerland on 7 December 2017. As with the other two initiatives, the main goal of this event was to form working groups around the themes identified during the Citizens’ Summit. During the four-month Citizens’ Forum phase (7 December 2017 to 21 March 2018), the working groups worked during three joint workshops and separate working group meetings towards (a) final proposal(s) related to their themes. Like in Enschede, the working groups were given the task to involved as many inhabitants of Steenwijkerland as possible in their plans and the development of their proposals during this period. The final Citizens’ Council event took place on 7 April 2018. As in Enschede, during the morning session, the working groups were asked to present their final proposals to three panels consisting of citizens, politicians, and experts. After the panel discussions, a Citizens’ Decision was taken, which included all proposals that had made it to the official vote. After the vote, the Citizens’ Decision was signed by all voting members of the Citizens’ Council and presented to the local mayor with a request to submit the Citizens’ Decision to the municipal council for formal approval and implementation. Also in Steenwijkerland, the participants could leave their names in case they wanted to be further
113 informed about the implementation of the results of the G1000 or wanted to be involved in it.
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Chapter 6
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