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Governance Within the Neighbourhood Green Plans

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Governance Within the Neighbourhood Green Plans MSc thesis Governance within the Neighbourhood Green Plans: A case study in the city of Utrecht Author: Ruud Otten – 900828632080 Publication date: October 2015 Supervisors: Thomas Mattijssen & Arjen Buijs Chair group: Forest and Nature Conservation Policy Institute: Wageningen University 1 Table of contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................ 4 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 5 1.1 Sustainable development in an urbanized world ....................................................................... 5 1.2 The neglected ‘green dimension’ ............................................................................................... 5 1.3 Governing an increasingly complex society ................................................................................ 7 1.4 Citizens and policy making......................................................................................................... 7 1.5 Emerging governance constellations ......................................................................................... 9 1.6 The advance of neoliberalism .................................................................................................. 10 1.7 Neoliberalism, the city and the (local) state ............................................................................. 11 1.8 The Dutch policy context ......................................................................................................... 12 1.9 Participation in the Neighbourhood Green Plans ..................................................................... 13 2. Theoretical framework .................................................................................................15 2.1 Policy Arrangement Approach ................................................................................................. 15 2.2 A (neo-liberal) governmentality perspective ............................................................................ 16 2.3 Political rationalities ................................................................................................................ 18 2.4 Governing technologies & discourse........................................................................................ 20 2.5 Human subjects....................................................................................................................... 21 2.6 Political rationalities in the Netherlands .................................................................................. 22 2.7 Top-down versus bottom-up governing ................................................................................... 22 2.8 Applying governmentality as analytical lens ............................................................................ 24 2.9 Conceptualizing ‘power’ .......................................................................................................... 26 3. Conceptual framework .................................................................................................28 3.1 Policy Arrangement Approach ................................................................................................. 28 3.2 The PAA and governmentality: the way to proceed ................................................................. 31 3.3 Research questions ................................................................................................................. 34 4. Research methodologies ..............................................................................................35 4.1 The NGPs as case study ........................................................................................................... 35 4.2 The setting .............................................................................................................................. 36 4.3 Data collection ........................................................................................................................ 37 4.4 Acquisition of data .................................................................................................................. 39 4.5 Ethical issues in collecting data................................................................................................ 40 4.6 Data processing and analysis ................................................................................................... 41 4.7 Reflection on the researcher’s role and applied methods ........................................................ 43 2 4.8 Validity, transferability and reliability ...................................................................................... 44 5. Results .........................................................................................................................46 5.1 Background and aims of the NGPs ...........................................................................................46 5.2 The municipality’s perspective on participation .......................................................................48 5.3 Involving residents .................................................................................................................. 50 5.4 NGPs in practice: steering vs. hands-off ................................................................................... 52 5.5 Actors and resources ............................................................................................................... 55 5.6 Rules and funding.................................................................................................................... 59 5.7 Communication and collaboration........................................................................................... 66 5.8 Implementation and beyond ................................................................................................... 69 5.9 Outputs and effects ................................................................................................................. 72 6. Discussion ....................................................................................................................79 6.1 The policy arrangement of the NGPs ....................................................................................... 79 6.2 Interaction between residents and the municipality ................................................................ 83 6.3 Governmentality ..................................................................................................................... 84 6.4 Reflection on research framework and methodology .............................................................. 92 7. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................95 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................97 Annexes......................................................................................................................... 102 Annex 1: Interview schedule for residents ................................................................................... 102 Annex 2: Map of the study area .................................................................................................. 105 Overview of tables and figures Figure 1: Governing shifts in society – p. 23 3 Abstract In both scientific literature and policy practice, there is nowadays much discussion about the observed shift from government to governance. This shift, which entails the increasing involvement of non-state actors in policy making, is often linked to the perceived prevalence of neo-liberal thought. It is believed that newly created political spaces might enable state actors to continue exercising control over non-state actors in novel ways. Against this background, this study examines the ‘Neighbourhood Green Plans’ (NGPs). The NGPs are a green participation programme in the Dutch city of Utrecht for ‘greening’ the city’s neighbourhoods with the help of residents. This study aims to understand the NGPs as an example of participatory governance, by providing an account (including organizational and substantive aspects) of this particular policy domain. Another aim is to examine whether and how a neo-liberal rationality can be recognized in the NGPs and how it relates to bottom-up ideas and initiatives. For analyzing the NGPs, the Policy Arrangement Approach is used. This is a theoretical framework that makes it possible to grasp both the organization (i.e. actors, rules and resources) and substance (i.e. discourse) of a given policy domain. In an additional analytical step of this study, (neo-liberal) governmentality theory is used. This theory investigates contemporary forms of governing and the underlying political rationalities, which are perceived to be related to the principles of freedom and own responsibility. However, governmentality theory also presupposes that non-state actors have the capacity to respond to top-down acts of governing in their own ways. Based on the chosen theoretical framework, three main research questions will be addressed: 1) the characteristics and development of the policy arrangement of the NGPs; 2) the interactions of actors within the arrangement of the NGPs, and the relation between the NGPs and external bottom-up initiatives; 3) the exercise of discursive
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