Case studies

Research activities

Research methodology: One preliminary phase will serve to learn, re-identify, or re-frame the issues at hand, followed by three deliberation panels to identify leverages and pre-conditions of change, and co-create solutions.

Deliberation phase: In the deliberation phase, participants will be encouraged to identify the preconditions and leverages for change using the Theory of Change and Participatory System Mapping. Two deliberation panels will run simultaneously, one with local policymakers and other relevant stakeholders (outer dimension), and one with citizens (inner dimension). In the last deliberation panel, roadmaps and strategies to reach the expected outcomes will be developed for the 4 case studies on the basis of results the Theories of Change and Participatory System Mapping carried out in the previous deliberation panels. A deliberative arena will enable a structured discussion about the pathways towards the outcomes to 1) validate general coherence and feasibility of scenarios/roadmaps, 2) to propose changes and improvements to the Theories of Change, and 3) to select the strategies more likely to be successful for the specific case and context.

Case study on involvement

CS #1: Involvement – Spanish energy communities with a focus on socioeconomic vulnerability and gender

Energy community of Jabalcón: In Zújar (Granada) the initiative to create an energy community got underway in 2021 by a group of residents and was supported by the energy cooperative Cooperase and by the city council of Zújar. Today the community counts 33 members, including residents, cooperatives, the irrigation community, and the representatives of the town council, and 60% of the participants are women, Spanish and mostly from the middle class with medium to high education levels. It is not yet operational, but the cooperative Nuestra Señora de la Cabeza has ceded its building roof for installation, while Cooperase supports the process based on the previous experience in Monachil.  This case study focuses on the empowerment of women in rural areas to play a more active role in the energy transition and on the main barriers for their involvement.

CS #1: Involvement – Spanish energy communities with a focus on socioeconomic vulnerability and gender

Sun4all: The Sun4all initiative started in Barcelona in 2021, inspired by a New York council project. The core concept is that a local government installs solar panels, and the city council gives low-income households some ownership in the project. This approach thus enables to include and empower vulnerable and impoverished households that lack the financial means to invest in renewable energy projects and who are typically on a rental basis. The Municipality of Barcelona through the Social Services Institute and the Local Energy Agency, and the vulnerable families residing in 3 social buildings owned by the municipality (100 households) are the primary players in Sun4all. The municipality provides an exclusive service, Energy Information Points (EIP), for a great number of energy-vulnerable families. The case study aims at including representatives from the Sun4all project, citizens, and the EIP (to provide a prospective vision on the potentiality for replication and scaling up) in the deliberation panels. The Sun4all key contribution is understanding how to involve vulnerable groups in the energy transition.

Case study on civic engagement

CS # 2: Civic engagement – Food Solidarity in Turin (IT)

Food Solidarity (Solidarietà Alimentare): Food Solidarity is a voluntary organization born in Turin during the Covid-19 lockdown. It is a movement of university students who went to the CAAT (Turin Agrifood Centre) to find surplus food to distribute to needy families during the 2020 lockdown, initially in cooperation with the Borello supermarket chain and later using European funds to purchase and distribute dry food and hygiene products. At the operational level, students reached CAAT every Friday and met with representatives of migrant communities who acted as intermediaries. Food Solidarity entered a convention with the Municipality of Turin for interventions related to the management of the state of health emergency Covid-19 (distribution of food aid and basic necessities, as well as social mediation and proximity actions) with associations including foreign communities or working for a long time in the field of social integration. The aim of the research is to reconstruct the social and relational dynamics that led a limited number of individuals to organise themselves autonomously in civil society, outside institutions and without guidance from the authorities, to respond to the social emergency produced by the pandemic. A further objective is to analyse the subsequent interaction of these phenomena with the local authorities, and to assess the latter’s capacity to identify, enhance and coordinate the social response to the food emergency produced by Covid-19 and the distancing measures required to deal with the crisis.

Case study on formal political participation

CS #3: Formal political participation – Participatory processes promoted by government in Northern Europe

Biodiversity initiative in the city of Tartu: The local government, in collaboration with the University of Tartu, aims at achieving self-sustaining systems of biodiversity development. Residents from diverse socio-economic and cultural background are closely involved in the development of landscape interventions to ensure their participation in the planning, implementation, and maintenance phases. Organizations (public universities, schools, clinics, museums), private (real estate and landscape maintenance service providers, gardening centers, landscape architectural offices, media), non-profit (including apartment owners’ associations and numerous citizen initiatives) are viewed as anchors promoting biodiversity and green transition, an approach which is quite innovative in Europe. The initiative started in autumn 2022, and so far, the negotiations and the planning of the activities have been carried out. The project promotes unique participation paths that can be evaluated and whose transferability may be examined. For instance, intervention plots will serve to enhance climate education and literacy among the citizens and to train stakeholders. The aim is to spread the knowledge and successfully implement biodiversity programs and to create need-based community networks for promoting green transition.

Small modular reactors (SMRs) in Espoo: In 2022, the Finnish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment launched a comprehensive reform of the Nuclear Energy Act (NEA) of 1987 which also considers the regulation of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) (e.g., licensing) as an alternative to decarbonize electricity and heat production. The draft is expected to be submitted for consultation in 2024, while the law is expected to enter into force in 2028. The NEA defines, among other things, the decision-making powers of the host municipality and the consultation of residents. The City of Espoo is exploring the possibility to locate a SMR in the city. The council initiative was launched in 2017, and the city is investigating the siting of the plant. If the plant was to be connected to the district heating network, it would have to be located relatively close to dense urban settlements. Thus, the participation of residents in decision-making would become a key issue. The comprehensive reform of the NEA hence creates a framework for decision-making, communication, and public participation. The case study will enable to investigate the expectations of key stakeholders (local decision-makers, energy company, ministry, nuclear safety authority etc) regarding SMR technology and arrangements, as well as how civic participation impacts legislative reform, and how local decision-makers think civic participation is linked to representative democracy. This case study will account for diverse stakeholder perspectives on a more controversial issue, without imposing the installation of the SMRs as a prerequisite in the deliberation: the city of Espoo has not made a political decision on small nuclear power yet.

Case study on activism

CS #4: Activism – Social movement Lobau Bleibt (AT)

Lobau Bleibt: the Lobau Tunnel is an infrastructure project planned for decades consisting of an approximately 8 km long, twin-tube road tunnel underneath the Danube and a national park near Vienna in the so-called “Lobau” area. In August 2021, climate activists began to set up a camp on the construction site of the road, which consists of one legal and registered protest camp and several illegal construction sites. In December 2021, the responsible minister of transport decided not to pursue the construction of the tunnel, but the leading party of Vienna “Social Democrats”, and other stakeholders announced to fight the decision of the federal government. The case represents an ongoing conflict of political contestation: the climate activists are ready to resume actions at any time. The Green party in the national government is trying to prevent the road project, while the city government, led by the Social Democrats, wants to stick with the project at all costs. The case is very important to learn more about the dynamics of infrastructure conflicts due to climate change and how to tackle problems of horizontal and vertical multi-level governance and about the dynamics that shape the success of social movements. In addition, it can provide insights for how policymakers can better address important concerns of activists/citizens in the future.