Bloemzaadteelt in de volle grond

Minder vermaard dan de ‘typisch Nederlandse’ bollenvelden, zijn de kleurige velden in het zuidwesten van Nederland waar allerlei bloemzaden worden geteeld. Maak nader kennis met deze vorm van tuinbouw waar bestuivers ook hun werk doen

Plugging the holes: Identifying potential avenues and limitations for furthering Dutch civil society contributions towards flood resilience

Abstract Climatic changes can cause unpredictability in flood regimes that traditional flood risk management (FRM) approaches may struggle with. Therefore, flood resilience is seen as a supplementation to these approaches, putting a larger emphasis on flood acceptance and minimising consequences. An (emergent) group contributing towards flood resilience is civil society. This paper examines how civil society contributions can be furthered and guided in the Netherlands as well as exploring potential limitations in doing so. To achieve this, England is used as a good practice example due to a more developed and defined role for civil society being present here. Data were collected on both actual (England and the Netherlands) and potential (The Netherlands) civil society contributions. These were compared to identify potential avenues for Dutch civil society contributions to flood resilience that can be further investigated. The research shows that the most promising avenues are improving advocacy from citizens, improving local flood awareness and developing relationships between FRM authorities and existing citizen groups that can be harnessed and mobilised to support flood resilience. Additionally, the research also provides insights into potential limitations for transferring resilience approaches from one context to another beyond the cases discussed in this publication

Integrated Public Value Creation through Community Initiatives—Evidence from Dutch Water Management

Governments are increasingly challenged by self-organizing community initiatives that seek to contribute to or even take the lead in public value creation. The reason for citizen-led instead of government-led public value creation is part of two larger governance trends. The first is the increased specialized, mission-oriented approach to large social challenges by government agencies. The second trend is the increased emphasis on accountability, productivity, and efficiency, following the New Public Management philosophy. As a response to these trends, community initiatives challenge the usual mechanisms, principles, and practices of government agencies. These initiatives are characterized by more integrated and inclusive approaches for dealing with societal problems. In turn, government agencies struggle with the way they can organize productive responses to the initiatives communities take in creating public value. In this study, we explore the rationales behind processes of public value creation in which communities take the lead. We explored these processes in Dutch water management. In this highly functionally specialized domain, we compared two cases in which communities take on leadership for integrated initiatives, including other societal functions and tasks adjacent to water management

The Social Production of Invited Spaces: Toward an Understanding of the Invitational Character of Spaces for Citizens’ Initiatives

The rise of citizens’ initiatives is changing the relation between governments and citizens. This paper contributes to the discussion of how governments can productively relate to these self-organizing citizens. The study analyzes the relation between the social production of invited spaces and the invitational character of such spaces, as perceived by governments and citizens. Invited spaces are the (institutional, legal, organizational, political and policy) spaces that are created by governments for citizens to take on initiatives to create public value. We characterize four types of invited spaces and compare four cases in Dutch planning to analyze how these types of invited spaces are perceived as invitational. From the analysis, we draw specific lessons for governments that want to stimulate citizens’ initiatives. We conclude with a general insight for public administration scholars; in addition to formal rules and structures, scholars should pay more attention to interactions, attitudes and meaning making of both government officials and citizens

Loslaten, maar niet overlaten. Succesvol regionaal water governance en de rol van rijkspartijen

SAMENVATTENDE CONCLUSIE: Aan de RMNO is gevraagd om een advies uit te brengen aan het Ministerie van Verkeer & Waterstaat, dat ingaat op het bestuurlijk vermogen rond watervraagstukken als onderdeel van gebiedsontwikkeling. In welke mate zijn de betrokken actoren in staat oplossingen voor watervraagstukken te realiseren? Hoe kan dit vermogen vergroot worden? Onze conclusie, aan de hand van een steekproef van zeven gebieden die we hebben onderzocht, is dat het bestuurlijk vermogen lijkt toe te nemen, maar de complexiteit van de vraagstukken ook. Er is een cumulatie van maatschappelijke wensen in gebieden, en het proces van integratie of synchronisatie van de doelen van verschillende gebiedspartijen wordt lastiger. De watergovernance is aangeland in een fase waar met name expliciet aandacht nodig is voor de manier waarop de communicatie en interactie tussen het nationaal waterbeleid en regionaal ruimtelijk beleid is vormgegeven...