In the context of public budget cuts and rural areas facing depopulation and aging, local governments increasingly encourage citizen engagement in addressing local livability issues. This paper examines the non-engagement of mid-aged and elderly residents (45+ years old) in civic initiatives that intend …

Due to recent technological advancements, technological transition through designing together with living organisms is a growing phenomenon in multiple disciplines as well as in building design. Within this technological transition period, a large number of concepts with varied terms and definitions …

Population decline, welfare state reforms and austerity measures pressurise the liveability of rural areas in the Netherlands and call upon local governments and communities to adapt and renew their mode of governance. This paper reports on three Dutch experimental governance arrangements which are analysed …

Groningen gas field is the largest on-land gas resource in the world and is being exploited since 1963. There are damaging earthquakes, the largest of which was 3.6 magnitude. The recursive induced earthquakes are often blamed for triggering the structural damages in thousands of houses in the area. …

The threat of climate change and the Paris agreement to limit global temperature rise to well below 2?C and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5?C has stimulated research on and broad commitment to community energy. We investigate this research. We assess how nine different approaches study community …

Rural areas in the northern parts of the Netherlands have lots of potentials to provide a healthy environment for their residents. However, population changes (ageing, outmigration) have a negative impact on the quality of life of residents. The GO!-Method that has been developed by the National Institute …

Energy cooperatives are beginning to expand their role from stimulating small-scale electricity production to developing local energy systems, including cooperatively owned energy storage solutions. However, many technical, social and financial obstacles are encountered in this process. It is as yet …

In this paper we investigate laypersons’ valuation of historic buildings, their experiences of thermal comfort in those buildings and contrast this with their views on the appropriateness of energy efficiency measures. This paper presents four case studies of medieval churches in Groningen, Netherlands. …