University of Groningen
Navigating waterway renewal
Willems, Jannes
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Publication date: 2018
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Willems, J. (2018). Navigating waterway renewal: Actor-centred institutional perspectives on the planning of ageing waterways in the Netherlands. University of Groningen.
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Navigating
waterway
renewal
Actor-centred institutional perspectives on the
planning of ageing waterways in the Netherlands
© J.J. Willems, 2018
This research was conducted at the Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, and funded by the Dutch waterway authority Rijkswaterstaat, as part of the cooperation programme “Sustainable Networks” between the University of Groningen and Rijkswaterstaat.
Cover: Formes Flottantes by Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1935), Kunsthalle Hamburg. Used with permission from bpk-Bildagentur, Berlin.
English language editing: Sandra Arts-Binnendijk, Ampersand Text & Translation. Design & layout: Sigrid Spier, ontwerp & illustratie
ISBN: 978-94-034-0849-1 ISBN E: 978-94-034-0848-4
Navigating waterway renewal
Actor-centred institutional perspectives on the planning of ageing waterways in the Netherlands
PhD thesis
to obtain the degree of PhD at the University of Groningen
on the authority of the Rector Magnificus Prof. E. Sterken
and in accordance with the decision by the College of Deans. This thesis will be defended in public on Thursday 13 September 2018 at 12.45 hours
Jannes Jurriaan Willems
born on 1 July 1990 in Nijmegen
Supervisors Prof. E.J.M.M. Arts Prof. J. Woltjer Co-supervisor Dr. T. Busscher Assessment committee Prof. A. Sorensen Prof. C.J.A.M. Termeer Prof. G. de Roo
“I have believed for as long as I can remember in an afterlife within my own life – a calm, stable state to be reached after a time of troubles.
When I was a child, that afterlife was Being Grown Up. As I have grown older, its content has become more nebulous,
but the image of it stubbornly persists.”
Donald A. Schön, Beyond the Stable State
(1971)
“Learning never exhausts the mind.”
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
7
Table of contents
List of tables and figures 11
Planning for ageing waterways 13
1.1. Inland waterways: fixity and fluidity 15 1.2. Navigating ageing waterways: an institutional perspective 18 1.3. Understanding waterway renewal as an institutional challenge 23 1.4. A qualitative research strategy 27 1.5. Study outline 37
The issue of ageing infrastructures: moving towards 41 a new alignment
2.1. A new challenge: renewing infrastructure networks 43 2.2. Towards renewing infrastructure networks: 45
theoretical explanations
2.3. Methodology 47 2.4. Tracing back the alignment in the Dutch national 49
inland waterway system
2.5. Conclusions 58
Table of contents
2.
1.
8 Table of contents
Planning for waterway renewal: balancing between 61 institutional reproduction and institutional change
3.1. Introduction 63 3.2. Theoretical framework 64 3.3. Methodology 70 3.4. Actors’ views on institutional change for renewal 72
in the Dutch national inland waterways
3.5. Conclusions and discussion 83
Co-creating value through renewing waterway 87 networks: a transaction-cost perspective
4.1. Introduction 89 4.2. A transaction-cost perspective on renewing waterway infrastructure 91 4.3. Methodology 95 4.4. Results: identifying transaction costs for renewing waterways 98 4.5. Conclusions 111
Beyond maintenance: emerging discourses on 115 waterway renewal in the Netherlands
5.1. Introduction 117 5.2. Discourse analysis in infrastructure planning 119 5.3. Methodology 121
5.4. Results 125
5.5. Conclusions: new discourses, new power relations? 137
Anticipating water infrastructure renewal: a framing 141 perspective on organisational learning in public agencies
6.1. Introduction 143 6.2. Environmental alignment: a process of organisational learning 145
6.3. Method 148
6.4. The repositioning of Rijkswaterstaat: moving from 152 a managerial frame toward a partner frame
6.5. Discussion: water authorities dealing with change 161 6.6. Conclusions 162
3.
4.
5.
9
Conclusions & recommendations: achieving a new 165 alignment in the Dutch national waterways
7.1. Navigating mature infrastructure networks 167 7.2. Planning for waterway renewal: institutional sedimentation 169 7.3. Implications: bridges and barriers for redesigning institutions 177
for waterway renewal
7.4. Reflection: contributions and limitations of the research 185 7.5. Recommendations for future research 190 7.6. Recommendations for Dutch national waterway renewal practice 192
References 197
Appendices 223
Appendix A: list of interviewees 224 Appendix B: list of policy documents 226 Appendix C: observations 229 Appendix D: focus groups 230 Appendix E: code trees for analysis 232
Summary 235
Nederlandse samenvatting 245
About the author 257
Dankwoord 259
Table of contents
11 List of tables and figures
List of tables and figures
Tables
Table 2.1. Three scales relevant to the alignment of technical and social parts of a system.
Table 2.2. The alignment between the physical and social system of the Dutch inland waterways in the four phases.
Table 3.1. A framework to research institutions from two lenses Table 3.2. The two institutional strands offer different explanations for
institutional reproduction and change.
Table 3.3. Institutional reproduction and change in the Dutch inland waterway network.
Table 4.1. The three dimensions of a transaction. Table 4.2. Three approaches to renewal.
Table 4.3. Stances of the three key actors on renewal. Table 5.1. Central elements in discourses.
Table 7.1. (Dis)alignment to a phase of waterway renewal in the Dutch waterway system.
Figures
Figure 1.1. The waterway system as an interrelated system consisting of both physical and socio-institutional elements.
Figure 1.2. Institutional learning on two organisational levels in the socio-institutional system.
Figure 1.3. The relationships between the conceptual model and the research questions of this study.
Figure 1.4. The two institutional lenses and their shared foundation. Figure 1.5. The Dutch national inland waterway network, including the
navigation locks and weirs that will have to be replaced before 2050. Figure 1.6. The Dutch national inland waterway network, including the
bridges that will have to be replaced before 2050. Figure 1.7. Outline of the thesis in three parts.
Figure 1.8. Part 2 of the thesis specified.
Figure 2.1. The added amount of navigation locks built in the period 1890-2008.
12 List of tables and figures
Figure 3.1. Path dependencies.
Figure 3.2. Renewal as perceived by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management.
Figure 3.3. Institutional layering in the Dutch inland waterway system for waterway renewal.
Figure 4.1. Three approaches to renewal: (1) 1-to-1 renewal (internal transaction); (2) minor renewal (transactions with local
stakeholders); and (3) major renewal (transactions with regional stakeholders).
Figure 4.2. Inter-organisational structures of (1) 1-to-1 renewal (hierarchical relationships); (2) minor renewal (hierarchical relationships); and (3) major renewal (contractual relationships).
Figure 5.1. An example of the coding process: the family code “problem definition”, its sub-codes and relationships.
Figure 5.2. The positioning of renewal and renovation in Dutch infrastructure planning.
Figure 5.3. Three discourses on waterway renewal in the Netherlands. Figure 5.4. Three competing discourses in the Dutch inland waterway network.
Figure 6.1. Learning presented as two feedback loops.
Figure 6.2. The Dutch national inland waterway network and the location of the six projects.
Figure 6.3. The managerial frame. Figure 6.4. The partner frame.
Figure 7.1. The conceptual model of this study.
Figure 7.2. Institutional change as a process of institutional layering: rather than institutions succeeding each other (left), new layers of institutions complement existing ones.
Figure 7.3. Three strands (‘triple helix’) resulting in path dependencies. Figure 7.4. Two learning systems.
Figure 7.5. Waterway renewal as a multi-level affair and the barrier of institutional fragmentation.
