Since the 1980s, many initiatives have attempted to tackle the deprivation currently experienced in South Rotterdam. Efforts have been made to attract creative workers and, in a counter-reaction, other initiatives have aimed to encourage the creative talents of poorer residents to strengthen their …

A year later, in 2013, the Westerkwartier Area Cooperative was established – a new form of cooperation at the regional level, involving hundreds of dairy farmers, other SMEs, Terra MBO as the representative of the knowledge institutions in the region, the National Forest Service in the Netherlands (‘Staatsbosbeheer’), …

Citizen participation is booming, especially the number of urban bottom-up initiatives where information and communication technologies (ICT) are deployed is increasing rapidly. This growth is good news for society as recent historical research shows that the more citizens actively and persistently interfere …

Rural service provision through citizen initiatives: stable alternative or a spur-of-the-moment?Against the backdrop of depopulation and Big Society, citizen initiatives in rural areas are believed to be able to mitigate service-provision inequalities between urban and peripheral regions. Factors influencing …

Against the backdrop of depopulation and Big Society, citizen initiatives in rural areas are expected to contribute to community liveability, for example by maintaining public services. These citizens initiatives are believed to be able to mitigate service-provision inequalities between urban and peripheral …

The transformation from the current energy system to a decentralized renewable energy system requires the transformation of communities into energy neutral or even energy producing communities. Increasingly, citizens become 'prosumers' and pool their resources to start a local energy initiative. In this …

This study aims at examining the ways people communicate about energy transition, by analyzing the discourse of different stakeholders in a case of a local initiative for renewable energy. When moving from traditional to renewable energy, social acceptance of new technologies is of central importance, …

How to define succesful citizens' initiatives? A professional perspective.In the backdrop of depopulation and the participation society, citizen initiatives in rural areas are expected to contribute to community liveability by maintaining various types of facilities in the area. Studies on which factors …

This thesis is about establishing an effective marketing strategy for MasterPeace, which will help generate publicity through the annual event on 5 May. MasterPeace is a non-governmental and non-profit organization with a European office based in Utrecht. It is a peace initiative that seeks to encourage …

More and more local bottom-up energy initiatives are emerging. Those involved encounter many barriers during the realization of their ideas. As the generation of renewable energy is mostly included, these local initiatives contribute to the targets set at regional, national & EU level. At the same time, …