According to mainstream literature, the promotion of sustainable development especially calls for collaborative and deliberative governance arrangements, paying attention to stakeholder participation and partnerships among multiple actors and across several policy levels. These arrangements are seen as able to deal with the complex, multi-scale, cross-sectoral and long-term aspects of sustainable development in a more adequate manner than hierarchical arrangements. Nevertheless, there is still a role to play for good old-fashioned state intervention, especially in situations of urgency or protection of vulnerable societal values. In fact, what is needed is a context specific mixture of networked, market and hierarchical forms of governance. The most important question is: what works where, when and why?
The main aim of his research is to make a relevant and significant contribution to the scholarly and political debate by analysing interventions that have the potential to make governance outcomes more congruent with sustainability goals. Special attention is given to institutional, legal, and social conditions that may foster sustainable development. The research takes as a presumption that governance arrangements that aim to enhance sustainable development should not only be effective, but also legitimate and efficient.
By reflecting on particular practices, insights are gained in the conditions under which various modes of environmental governance are successful or unsuccessful. His research covers practices like climate adaptation, urban planning, and water management. Furthermore, his research interests include interactive policy-making, environmental impact assessment, and science-policy interactions.
Projects
Project
LOSS Living on Soft Soils
12.06.2019
to 31.12.2025
General project description
Ongoing subsidence is an complex problem in the Dutch lowlands for cities and polder land. Old strategies for coping have bottom limits. New strategies will be arranged and the pacing of subsidence mapped and modelled, so that the measures to negotiate and decide on have figures in mm and €.
Role
Researcher
Funding
NWO grant NWA consortia 2018
External project members
- Gilles Erkens (Deltares)
- Bernardien Tiehatten (LOSS)
- Prof. Ramon Hanssen (TU Delft)
- J.G. Rots (TU Delft)
- K.G. Gavin (TU Delft)
- Prof. Ekko van Ierland (WUR)
- Prof. Hans-Peter Weikard (WUR)
- Jan Willem van Groenigen (WUR)
- Jan JH van den Akker (WUR)
- Dr. Mandy Korff (TUD
- Deltares)
- Dr. Peter Fokker (TNO Geological Survey of the Netherlands)
Completed Projects
Project
Transforming Infrastructures for Sustainable Cities
01.01.2018
to 31.12.2021
General project description
Cities and urban regions are key sites and vantage points of societal transitions to circular economies, healthy living, resilience and inclusiveness. One of the key mediators of such transitions are technical infrastructures—socio-technical systems in the provision of energy, water, wastewater, waste, mobility and information and communication services. However, those systems are highly path dependent and are interlaced with the built environments of cities, urban practices of production and use and embedded in a complex web of political interests and epistemic cultures. Our infrastructure choices today set the default for many decades to come. Changing urban infrastructures thus imposes exceptionally high requirements in terms of the transformative knowledge for decision makers. Our ambition with this hub is to develop a platform for new transdisciplinary collaborations on urban sustainability transitions through the lens of urban infrastructures. We will explore and test innovative techniques and practices of urban ‘futuring’, experimentation, co-provision and governance in cities around the world and develop sustainability indicators and assessment tools to understand, evaluate and promote pathways to urban sustainability. The hub will bring together the substantive knowledge of leading researchers at Utrecht University and will work closely together with stakeholders in novel ways to co-create knowledge in ‘city learning labs’ and transdisciplinary workshops, that is both policy relevant and intellectually ambitious.
Role
Researcher
Funding
Utrecht University
Project
STAR-FLOOD
01.10.2012
to 31.03.2016
General project description
STAR-FLOOD stands for: “STrengthening And Redesigning European FLOOD risk practices: Towards appropriate and resilient flood risk governance arrangements”. This programme was recently awarded a grant of 5.4 Million Euros by the European Union (FP7).
The project is focused on analysing, explaining, evaluating and designing policies to better deal with flood risks from rivers in urban agglomerations across Europe. The results of this ambitious programme are expected to be highly relevant for policies and law at the European, national and regional level and for the development of public-private partnerships.
Role
Researcher
Funding
External funding
Project members UU