Sowing the Seeds of Equal Citizen Participation: A case study analysis on engaging vulnerable citizens in urban green policy-making in The Netherlands

Abstract

Adaptation to climate change in The Netherlands requires place-based solutions. The limited mandate and capacity of local governments to adequately deal with increasing climate risks and impacts means stronger collaborative approaches, such as citizen participation, are needed. To prevent inequalities, it is necessary that municipalities actively try to involve vulnerable citizens. Therefore, adequate goals for citizen participation must be formulated by the municipality. However, the relationship between the goals set for citizen participation in urban green policy and the extent to which vulnerable citizens are engaged remains underexplored in literature. Therefore, this research aims to answer the following question: To what extent do the objectives set by municipalities for citizen participation lead to the engagement of vulnerable citizens in urban green policies, and what lessons about citizen participation can be drawn from this for policymakers? It was hypothesized that the objectives set by the municipality should be broad enough to cover all five conditions for citizen participation by Lowndes et al. (2006). Namely, citizens engage depending upon their available resources, their sense of belonging to a broader community, whether they are helped to participate by supportive organisations, if they are mobilised, and if they experience a response. The three first-mentioned conditions require a more normative approach. It was therefore expected that a normative rationale for the objectives of citizen participation contributes to better involvement of vulnerable citizens. The results show that setting normative objectives indeed corresponds to more effort put in by a municipality to engage vulnerable citizens in urban green policies. Studying the inclusion of vulnerable citizens in climate adaptation policies is relevant because empowering vulnerable citizens to participate is essential for creating a more equitable landscape in climate adaptation. Moreover, when citizen participation is exercised to its full potential, it enhances the liveability of urban spaces, thereby benefiting all citizens.