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ABSTRACT
Urban experiments are no longer exclusively undertaken by alternative networks, dominated by new actors and alliances and located at the fringes of the current system. A second generation of initiatives is emerging, which Is characterized by a leading role for local governments, together with other established players. For experimentation at the fringes of the regime the challenge is to maximally benefit from niche protection while seizing opportunities to influence regime dynamics. Second generation experiments face a different challenge: to benefit from the proximity to the regime while maintaining a protective space for developing ‘deviant’ solutions. I will draw on insights on reflexive governance to develop a framework for understanding this challenge and strategies to meet it. I will use an ongoing project on achieving synergy between energy, water and data infrastructures in Amsterdam as an empirical referent to clarify and sharpen the argument. The framework includes propositions on strategies for this newly emerging types of initiatives, focusing on the processes through which they do or do not work. They may be tested and further developed through case studies. Such work may also contribute to meta-theoretical issue of the relations between institutional, discursive and material factors in driving change.
Acknowledgements
The author is indebted to comments on an early outline to fellow members of JEPP's International Editorial Advisory Board during a stimulating workshop in Berlin, September 2019, and to two referees for their helpful comments on the first draft. He thanks his co-workers in the Koppelkansenproject for sharing insights and for many productive discussions.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes on contributor
John Grin, (MSc, in physics, 1986; PhD 1990, on defence technology assessment) is a full professor of at the Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam. His work focuses on the design, governance and politics of system innovations and transitions, especially in the fields of agriculture and food, water management, urban systems of provision and health care. He is co-director of the Programme Group Transnational Configurations, Conflicts and Governance, Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR), which he led between 2006 and 2010. John Grin was co-director (with Johan Schot, Jan Rotmans, Marjan Minnesma) of the Dutch Knowledge Network on System Innovations and transitions (KSI, 2005-2010) specifically responsible for the sub-programme on governance studies, as well for its interface between research and practice. Earlier affiliations include VU Univeristy, Amsterdam and Princeton University.
Notes
1 Hoppe does not discuss the material dimension, but we know from Science and Technology Studies that it affects practices (cf especially actor network theory from Latour, Callon and others), and that objects and infrastructures on their turn are shaped by participation (the social construction of technology, by authors like Pinch and Bijker). In transition literature, this has e.g. become clear from Swilling et al. (Citation2016) and Castán Broto (Citation2016).
2 Most observations used have been recorded in reports on meetings and blogs. These reports and blogs as well as other documents (in Dutch) are public, and many can be obtained from the project’s website (https://www.kennisactiewater.nl/co-creatie-trajecten/koppelkansen/); others may be obtained on request, through the author. As my objective here is not to provide evidence for an argument, but to present a set of propositions, I will only occasionally refer to these sources.
3 Verslag van de eerste twee co-creatie bijeenkomsten ‘Koppelkansen Water en Energie', 28 november en 7 december 2017, Amsterdam.
4 Co-creatietraject Koppelkansen. Document for the Directors, October 24, 2018; and https://www.kennisactiewater.nl/nieuws/koppelkansen-gaat-van-start-nu-echt/.
5 Comprising co-workers of the three organizations plus the scholars. The team leads the programme on a day-to-day basis.
6 Dutch acronym for Reflexive Interactive Design.
8 Joyce van den Berg et al. Werkboek/Studie Amstel-Stad. Integrale ontwerpmethode openbare ruimte. Engineering Bureau Municipality of Amsterdam, 2020.
9 Conversation with Joyce van den Berg and observation during a team meeting on January 21, 2020.
10 https://www.kennisactiewater.nl/nieuws/ingewikkelde-problemen-en-integrale-oplossingen-voor-infrastructurele-planvorming-in-amstelstad/; https://www.kennisactiewater.nl/rapporten/de-druk-op-de-amsterdamse-ondergrond-neem-toe-hoe-kan-het-anders/.
11 Presentation by Rob Ververs (Waternet), KK project meeting, Amsterdam, February 12, 2018.
12 See Co-creatietraject Koppelkansen. Document for the Directors, October 24, 2018.
13 Sten Camps, Verkenning governance Koppelkansen Amstelstad. Rapportage. Gemeente Amsterdam, 24 december 2019.
14 A third key lesson., drawn already while drafting the programme, was that better understanding business propositions for multiple value creation would crucially help. This made us, successfully, apply for a project on that issue for a grant from the National Science Foundation. This is yet to start, however, and will not be further discussed here.
15 In addition to these ‘internal’ barriers, there were also ‘external’ barriers, e.g. in the form of legislation on the various infrastructures, which also tended to reproduce functional differentiation.
16 Masterclass Reflexive Design, University of Amsterdam. September 2, 2019. Cf https://www.kennisactiewater.nl/bijeenkomsten/systeeminnovatie-hoe-doe-je-dat-eigenlijk-een-verslag-van-de-eerste-masterclass-reflexief-interactief-ontwerpen/.
17 Eric van den Beuken. Flap Uitlegschema. Kernteam KK programme, December, 2019.
18 Co-creatietraject Koppelkansen. Document for the Directors, October 24, 2018.
19 Sten Camps, Verkenning governance Koppelkansen Amstelstad. Rapportage. Gemeente Amsterdam, 24 december 2019.
20 The so-called coördinatiestelsel, including regular meetings and the formal WIOR (Verordening Werken in de openbare ruimte) regulation stipulating how the partners are to interact.