Organizing sustainability improvements based on citizens’ power
29 November 2022
“If you want inhabitants of The Hague to make their homes and lifestyles more sustainable, you must first put yourself in their shoes”, Joris Wijsmuller states, director of Duurzaam Den Haag (translated: Sustainable The Hague) since July 1st. He considers the focus on citizen participation one of the most important successes of this organization. “You cannot force residents to become more sustainable.”, he continues. “You have to understand what’s going on in their lives and support them in taking action of their own in a way that works for them.
In their nearly ten years of existence, Duurzaam Den Haag has continued to improve on fulfilling their role. This role, according to Joris, is to be the city’s outboard motor in terms of inhabitants’ participation in sustainability. Over time, the organization has developed into a strong partner to the municipality, project developers, and citizens.
17 interconnected Sustainable Development Goals
“As the SDG’s imply, these 17 goals do not stand on their own: they are all intertwined,” Joris explains. “If we want to make our city more sustainable, this means that all inhabitants must (be able to) participate. This includes inhabitants with limited finances living in social housing. These people often have more urgent issues requiring their attention than sustainability. In this case, we are also faced with poverty (SDG 1) and welfare (SDG 3). This has to be dealt with first to make sustainability a topic of interest for these people.”
Joris points to the developments in Molenwijk as an important success story. There, the team of Duurzaam Den Haag started by joining community gatherings that already existed. Duurzaam Den Haag started a neighborhood team together with the inhabitants, now known commonly as “het spekkoekoverleg”. There, developments were discussed and the attendees inquired about opportunities for improving sustainability. From thereon, more and more activities were set up, like a sustainability quiz, a rain barrel action and induction cooking. The growing involvement has led to the local community center in Laakhage becoming more sustainable as an exemplary building. After installing ceiling heating, solar panels have now been installed for the energy consumption of the community center itself, but also for the energy cooperation which neighborhood residents can co-own through the Op Rozen Model. This way it is possible for residents who don’t own a roof and with little money to benefit from the profits of solar panels. With a one-time investment of €25, they yearly receive €25 euros as a return on the proceeds of the energy.
Citizen participation as accelerator
Molenwijk holds the ambition to completely eliminate the use of gas. The teams of Duurzaam Den Haag and Energierijk Molenwijk (translated: Energetic Molenwijk) therefore still have a ways to go. Creating a support base and increasing collectivity are still crucial in this endeavour. Other focus districts are Koningsplein and surroundings, Laak central, Spoorwijk and Moerwijk. “In the context of my previous point about standing in citizens’ shoes, and the interconnectedness of the SDGs, I’d like to mention the project ‘Schimmel Schoon Genoeg’.” , Joris says. “I mention this because we noticed that moisture and mold are a big problem in Moerwijk that affects many people. People aren’t quickly willing to invest in insulation, solar panels, or a heat pump if all their attention is being claimed by combating mold. That’s why we’ve offered support in setting up project ‘Schimmel Schoon Genoeg’. Even though mold is outside of our field of focus, this project does pave the way for us to work on improving sustainability with residents.”, he continues.
The approach in neighborhoods such as Molenwijk and Moerwijk Joris sees as a good example of citizens actively thinking and planning along with the municipality, as well as an example of the support base that enables acceleration in improving neighborhood sustainability. “It’s incredibly powerful what happens when you let civilians take the wheel. Together, they prove to have an amazing amount of knowledge and valuable networks. It’s a shame it’s utilized so little.”, Joris says. The Netherlands stands for a great task of energy transition, with numerous neighborhoods such as Molenwijk that need to become more sustainable. The acquired experience in this example can be very valuable to projects in different neighborhoods and cities.
The role of the government
Joris also sees the challenges in the execution of the energy transition: “What we are faced with is that governmental authorities have come to work more and more according to systems. Regardless of good intentions and ambitions of individual government officials, we notice that bottom-up initiatives often don’t connect with that system-world. All the while support by the municipality is necessary to realize citizen initiatives. To truly carry out a shift to a sustainable city on time, the municipality should step out of its ivory tower more often to look at all that’s going on in this beautiful green city!”