Groningen (province)

Project name: Stem van Provincie Groningen

https://stemvanprovinciegroningen.nl/

Exploring digital participation

Groningen province started to use the CONSUL DEMOCRACY platform around the year 2020 in the context of a subsidy programme by the national Dutch government that focused on citizen participation and technological innovation. In 2020 the corona pandemic was at its peak, which created a further incentive to start experimenting with digital participation methods.

The same national support programme kickstarted digital participation and the use of CONSUL in its capital city, Groningen, in the neighbouring province Friesland, and in a string of smaller municipalities in the province such as Midden-Groningen and Het Hogeland.

The decision to go with CONSUL was partly informed by the requirement of the technology to be fully open source. The reasoning: the investment of public money had to result in goods or services that would be reusable for other governmental bodies, and even for civil society or the private sector.

Abstract visions

Groningen province has conducted numerous participation processes using its CONSUL platform. One is the process around compiling the so-called Omgevingsvisie, or Environment Vision, which is a local adaptation of the all-encompassing national Environment Law uniting policy domains such as physical infrastructure, energy, housing, agriculture, nature, water supply and industry.

Groningen province designed a participation process for the Omgevingsvisie using Polls and open Discussions and divided up the Omgevingsvisie into separate participation tracks for each of the respective policy domains. The reponse was dissapointing. The lesson was that the subject of the participation was too all-encompassing, just like the Environment Law is, for residents to wrap their head around and understand their role in it. If there would be a next iteration, the change would be to add a physical participation track parallel to the online track.

No to industrial development

A more succesfull, and concrete, example of CONSUL use has been digital participation in a decision about a potential industrial area. A few years ago the province administration made plans for the development of the area for industry including the construction of several factories. The participation was partly in-person, partly digital and revolved around the question: what do you think of these plans?

This question catalysed participation forward. It became clear that the topic was controversial. The discussion on the platform was intense; 323 comments came in, almost all of substance, some of them supported by 80 or more fellow participants. And most importantly, most of them were against industrial development in the area, which led to the decision to put off the development until broader societal legitimacy was reached.

Another lesson learnt from this particular process was that the amount of reactions created another challenge for administrators: processing all of the input.

Less controversial and less complicated participation projects were implemented on the platform too, like the so-called doorfietsroute: a long cycling route without traffic lights and crossing. The doorfietsroute would connect several bike routes; the infrastructural choices at hand would be the subject of a participation question on the province’s platform to which residents could upload their proposals and comment.

Social and Economic Agenda

More recently, Groningen province has used the platform for setting priorities for two official policy agendas, one for social affairs and one for economic affairs in its territory. Having learned from the Omgevingsvisie process, this time the approach was different. The questions posed were not entirely open, but more focused. The concept of the Social and Economic agenda and its goals were determined by the project team; the question which of these goals to prioritize in the upcoming years were posed to participants.

The approach worked well. It resembled a kind of ‘test’ to check whether the goals formulated in the policy plans resonated with citizens. This ensured that the discussions and ideas remained fairly focused throughout the process, even though the Agendas were long term policy documents covering a period of 30 years.

Ommeland

Provinces are sometimes more vague and abstract in their tasks andresponsibilities than municipalities. This makes participation different and often more challenging. This is why the province Groningen states: we don't have to participate about everything. Sometimes decision-making lies with the national government and the municipality. Deciding on which topics and participation projects to take up remains a balancing act.

Unique to Groningen province is the grossly unequal distribution of population and wealth between its capital Groningen city and the rest of the Ommeland – literally: the surrounding lands. This is an important point of attention: how can we distribute this better? To illustrate this, one could compare the municipality of Pekela in East-Groningen, which employs less than 100 people, to Groningen capital which employs over5,400.

45-minute drive

Organizing a meeting is easiest to do in the city of Groningen, because that's where most people live and where the locations are. But if you live in Terhuizen or Ter Apel this is more than a45-minute drive from the city of Groningen. Highly educated, left-wing people from the city of Groningen are more involved in participation processes and know their way around the right channels – and digital platforms. In other municipalities, the socio-economic level is lower, as is the level of involvement. This inequality and lack of diversity requires extra attention and the province of Groningen is well positioned and working to address this.

Unique to – and a controversial part of – the geography of the province of Groningen is energy production and gas supply. The natural gas fields in the Groningen soil are a major energy provider for the rest of the country, which have been heaviliy exploited to the point that earthquakes damaged houses and entire Groningen villages built on top of the gas fields.

Mission

Why does the Groningen province do participation? Restoring trust is an important part of the answer. Public trust in the national government is low everywhere, but in Groningen it is even lower. This may have to do with irresponsible natural gas exploitation strategies. When compared to trust in the national government, public trust in the province administration is slightly higher, and trust in the municipality level of government is the highest.

However, the goal of participation is not to make people trust the province more. It is to, understanding trust more broadly, to have people know and feel that the government works for them and for no-one else.

Another part of the answer is the worldwide pressure on democracy. Yes, the province needs better policies and implement them more effectively for residents, but it is also more than that. How can we ensure that the province can strengthen local societies in a way that benefits us all?