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SUSPLAN, NIBR 15th March 2012 Dr. Laurens de Graaf

It is the people stupid! Key figures in urban governance in The Netherlands. SUSPLAN, NIBR 15th March 2012 Dr. Laurens de Graaf. Background and previous research. PhD: stakeholders support in urban governance Citizens participation in Dutch and European cities

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SUSPLAN, NIBR 15th March 2012 Dr. Laurens de Graaf

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  1. It is the people stupid! Key figures in urban governance in The Netherlands SUSPLAN, NIBR 15th March 2012 Dr. Laurens de Graaf

  2. Background and previous research • PhD: stakeholders support in urban governance • Citizens participation in Dutch and European cities • Local referenda (harbour/station area’s) • Democratic legitimacy of Intermunicipal collaboration • Participative policy documents • Exemplary practitioners in neighbourhood governance

  3. Today Focus on Key individuals in urban participative processes

  4. Research • Diagnosis & focus • Organisation • Design • Results • Conclusions & Discussion

  5. 1. Diagnosis & focus • Complex urban problems (our focus is on deprived neighbourhoods) • There are people in these contexts who are getting things done  People who make a difference in urban governance Main questions: • What do they do in these difficult contexts? • What is their way of working? • How do they get things done?

  6. 2. Organisation • 5 large Dutch cities: • Amsterdam • Den Haag • Leeuwarden • Utrecht • Zwolle • Nicis Institute • Research team from: • Tilburg University and • Technical University Delft Period: November 2008 – May 2012

  7. 3. Design Literature: on street level bureaucrats, frontline workers, reflective practitioners, deliberative practitioners, everyday makers, everyday fixers, boundary spanners, social entrepreneurs etc. 2 phases in the fieldwork: • Scouting • Following (shadowing) and interviewing (‘profiling’ John Forester) We call it ‘political anthropology’  inductive approach!

  8. 4. Results Some examples: From Utrecht: A Maroccan guy (age 38) who initiated a youth sports associations in a deprived neighbourhood in Utrecht to improve the image of Maroccan boys. From Amsterdam: A man (age 60) who connects participatory initiatives in a deprived neighbourhood in Amsterdam.

  9. 4. Results (2) What do these people do and how do they do it? They show a combination of two things: Empathy & Entrepeneurship • Result oriented (targeted, no nonsens, rules/procedures as a condition, skillfulness…) • Empathy (they activate others (citizens), contact, listening, tact…) • Inspiration in Dutch: ‘Bevlogenheid’ (ambitious, onorthodox, not affraid for conflicts, stubborn…) • Networking (collaborating, multi linguistic, connectors, meet, they know the way…) All observed individuals have a combination between these features

  10. 4. Results (3) These key figures can (empirically) be typified as: • Every day maker (at the street level, result oriented, inspirational, ambitious, stubborn, annoying for governments…) • Frontline worker (they move from bureaucracy to the street level, empathy, listening, problem solving, short term…) • Social entrepeneur (initiator, own resources, specific target group, ‘face’ of the project, pragmatic networking, risk taking…) • Boundary spanner (connector, they move around and are not at fixed places, conflicts are productive, broad urban network, partners in crime, they need a big person ...)

  11. 5. Conclusions & discussion • Survival of the fitting (‘person in context’) • They all have general and specific qualities • We found these key figures in bureaucracy (system world) as well as in the streets (life world, civil society). • They are catalysts (they move between public organisations and the streets) • They work at key positions at the top of relevant organisations, but also at key positions at the centre of governance networks! • A majority is working in urban participative governance processes.

  12. 5. Conclusions and discussion • Questions to elaborate on (and for SUSPLAN): • Do you recognise it? • Is this meaningful for urban planning/participative processes in other countries as well? If yes, • How to find these key figures in urban development? • How to facilitate these key figures, and by whom? • How can you collaborate with/manage such a person? • What are their (dis)advantages? • Can you learn to be a ‘key individual’? • Can we speak of street level politics?

  13. More information Tilburg University Tilburg School of Politics and Public Administration Laurens de Graaf L.J.deGraaf@uvt.nl www.tspb.nl 0031 (0)13 466 8136

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