“Everyday knowledge and a broad array of outlooks for sustainable transformations”
© fstopimages/Malte Müller
The wind farm just outside town or the new traffic calming zone in the town centre – the projects needed for sustainable transformations often encounter reservations or raise questions that are not answered sufficiently. In order for citizens to be able to access comprehensive information, debate divergent interests and negotiate the best solution in a shared process, participation is vital. The new episode of the Oeko-Institut’s Wenden bitte! podcast explores how participation can help to take better decisions in the course of the energy or transport transitions.
When changes are impending in a particular place, such as construction projects or infrastructure planning, people are usually substantially concerned. In such settings, well organised participation processes can help to integrate local, everyday knowledge and diverse perspectives. In this way, policy and planning decisions can ultimately be placed on a sounder footing.
The podcast audio is in German; an English translation is here.
Shaping participation openly and flexibly
Melanie Mbah stresses that participation processes need to be carried out openly and flexibly. They need to provide for true opportunities to shape the process, while diverse local actors should ideally be involved in research processes, but also in decision-making processes, from the outset. In the ideal case, reciprocal learning is stimulated. Knowledge is then not merely accessed in response to a specific concern, but is made a part of the professional and everyday actions of the participants. As a result, it can exert a positive effect on similar processes at different places and at later points in time.
“The example of the search for a nuclear repository in Germany illustrates how important continuous participation processes are,” says Mbah. “In my view this particular process will have been a success if people in Germany say they can understand why this site was chosen and no other.”
This calls for full documentation of all processes and further requires the accessibility and ready retrievability of all information, thus ensuring that the bases and steps of decision-making are transparent.
Knowledge rather than everyday advice
The Oeko-Institut's “Wenden bitte!” (“All change please!”) podcast is aimed at listeners from politics, science, the media, NGOs and the general public – anyone with an interest in political and environmental issues. Co-presenters of the podcast are Nadine Kreutzer, journalist and presenter, and Mandy Schossig, Head of Public Relations & Communications at the Oeko-Institut. For about an hour – enough time for the “long haul of environmental podcasts” – they talk with one of the Oeko-Institut’s experts about upcoming transformations towards sustainability. Special episodes address current affairs in politics and society.
The “Wenden bitte!” (“All change please!”) podcast: Episodes of Season 4
Episode 2: "Faster progress on the energy transition?" with Moritz Vogel, released 14 March 2024
Episode 3: “What does public participation deliver?“ with Dr Melanie Mbah, released 16 May 2024
All seasons and episodes are at www.oeko.de/podcast
The podcast is available on all the usual podcast portals – such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
