Evaluating strategic environmental assessment in the Netherlands: Content, process and procedure as indissoluble criteria for effectiveness

To assess the effectiveness of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) we distinguish between its contribution to the quality of the ultimate policy choice (usefulness, applicability), the procedural quality of the planning process (transparency, timeliness) and the quality of stakeholder participation in the planning process (openness, equity, dialogue). In the context of two case studies involving Dutch planning practice, we argue that when and how an SEA is applied is crucial to understanding its e

Ambient Intelligence and Persuasive Technology: The Blurring Boundaries Between Human and Technology

The currently developing fields of Ambient Intelligence and Persuasive Technology bring about a convergence of information technology and cognitive science. Smart environments that are able to respond intelligently to what we do and that even aim to influence our behaviour challenge the basic frameworks we commonly use for understanding the relations and role divisions between human beings and technological artifacts. After discussing the promises and threats of these technologies, this article develops alternative conceptions of agency, freedom, and responsibility that make it possible to better understand and assess the social roles of Ambient Intelligence and Persuasive Technology. The central claim of the article is that these new technologies urge us to blur the boundaries between humans and technologies also at the level of our conceptual and moral frameworks

Typologie van de Nederlandse weggebruiker 1976

Details on use of car / satisfaction / buying behaviour / attitude towards types of car drivers and other users of the road / traffic behaviour / most important characteristic of car drivers attitude to traffic laws and the right of government to implement new laws and rules and other laws / tasks of 'Veilig Verkeer Nederland' / attitude to traffic in the mass-media / cultural exposure and preferences / sense of efficacy and political activism / use of means of protest. Background variables: basic characteristics/ residence/ housing situation/ household characteristics/ occupation/employment/ income/capital assets/ education/ social class/ consumption of durables/ readership, mass media, and 'cultural' exposure/ organizational membershi

Typology of people in traffic 1976

Details on use of car / satisfaction / buying behaviour / attitude towards types of car drivers and other users of the road / traffic behaviour / most important characteristic of car drivers attitude to traffic laws and the right of government to implement new laws and rules and other laws / tasks of 'Veilig Verkeer Nederland' / attitude to traffic in the mass-media / cultural exposure and preferences / sense of efficacy and political activism / use of means of protest. Background variables: basic characteristics/ residence/ housing situation/ household characteristics/ occupation/employment/ income/capital assets/ education/ social class/ consumption of durables/ readership, mass media, and 'cultural' exposure/ organizational membershi

Confronting momentum: Mapping the social appraisals of an 'inevitable' motorway capacity expansion

Motorway capacity expansion projects are prominent causes for contestation. From a large technical systems (LTS) perspective, the concept of 'momentum' can be deployed to investigate social appraisals associated with such projects. Momentum is the end stage in LTS development, designating stabilization in the coevolution of social and technical system elements. In large-scale road infrastructure planning, momentum becomes manifest in the assumed inevitability of capacity expansion. Yet, as it remains unclear how momentum is confronted by situated actors, particularly within the remit of deliberative planning, this paper investigates the manifestation of momentum in the social appraisals of civil society actors involved in deliberating a case of 'inevitable' large-scale infrastructure planning. By using an exemplary case of a project on motorway capacity expansion in the Netherlands, it was investigated how momentum was acknowledged by actors, but perhaps also resisted or sustained. The paper finds that actors were quite aware of momentum, but that they largely refrained from resisting it as a result of the focus on impact mitigation in the deliberation. Furthermore, this focus sustained the necessity claim and underlying rationale for the motorway capacity expansion. However, the choice of whether to resist or sustain momentum could have been strategically motivated. The paper recommends that further practice and methodological research should focus on the challenges of teasing out social appraisals on momentum in the deliberative planning context