Greening Governance: An Evolutionary Approach to Policy Making for a Sustainable Built Environment - Volume 30 Sustainable Urban Areas

344 Pages·2009·3 MB·English

by  E. Van Bueren

S U S T A I N A B L E
U R B A N A R E A S
Greening governance
An evolutionary approach
to policy making for a
sustainable built environment
Ellen van Bueren
Delft Centre for Sustainable Urban Areas
Delft University of Technology
Delft University of Technology

Greening governance
An evolutionary approach to policy making for
a sustainable built environment
The series Sustainable Urban Areas
is published by IOS Press under the imprint Delft University Press
IOS Press BV
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The Netherlands
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Sustainable Urban Areas is edited by
Delft Centre for Sustainable Urban Areas
C/o OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies
Delft University of Technology
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The Netherlands
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Greening governance
An evolutionary approach to policy making
for a sustainable built environment
PROEFSCHRIFT
ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor
aan de Technische Universiteit Delft,
op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. dr. ir. J.T. Fokkema,
voorzitter van het College voor Promoties,
in het openbaar te verdedigen
op donderdag 3 december 2009 om 12.30 uur
door
Ellen Maria VAN BUEREN
doctorandus in de bestuurskunde
geboren te Rotterdam
Dit proefschrift is goedgekeurd door de promotoren:
Prof. mr. dr. E.F. ten Heuvelhof, Technische Universiteit Delft
Prof. mr. dr. J. de Jong, Technische Universiteit Delft
Samenstelling promotiecommissie:
Rector Magnificus, voorzitter
Prof. mr. dr. E.F. ten Heuvelhof, Technische Universiteit Delft, promotor
Prof. mr. dr. J. de Jong, Technische Universiteit Delft, promotor
Prof. H. Szejnwald Brown, Clark University, USA
Prof. dr. A.B. Ringeling, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam
Prof. dr. W.M. de Jong, Technische Universiteit Delft/Harbin Institute of
Technology, China
Prof. dr. ir. J.D.M. van Hal, Technische Universiteit Delft
Prof. dr. ir. H. Priemus, Technische Universiteit Delft
Greening governance. An evolutionary approach to policy making
for a sustainable built environment
Thesis Delft University of Technology, Delft, the Netherlands
The author wishes to acknowledge the financial assistance of the Dutch
government through the Delft Cluster programme.
Design and dtp: Cyril Strijdonk Ontwerpbureau, Gaanderen
Printed in the Netherlands by: Haveka, Alblasserdam
Cover photo: Frans Brand (The new, sustainably planned and constructed
residential area Poelgeest in Oegstgeest is situated underneath a power
transmission line, and is an example of the trade-offs made when
implementing sustainable development.)
ISSN 1574-6410; 30
ISBN 978-1-60750-078-0
NUR 755
Legal notice
The publisher is not responsible for the use which might be made of the fol-
lowing information.
© Copyright 2009 by Ellen van Bueren. No part of this book may be reproduced
in any form by print, photoprint, microfilm or any other means, without
written permission from the copyrightholder.
Contents
Acknowledgements

1 The unsettling success of governance for sustainable
building.............................................1
1.1 Introduction .........................................1
1.2 The sustainability performance of the built environment ...2
1.3 The performance of sustainable building policies in
the Netherlands ......................................3
1.4 Explaining policy success and unease: the ambiguity
of sustainable development ............................6
1.5 How to design policies addressing ambiguous,
multi-actor problems?................................10
1.6 Research questions ..................................11

2 Policies in support of a sustainable built environment ...13
2.1 Introduction ........................................13
2.2 A brief history of environmental awareness..............13
2.3 How sustainable development changed environmental
policymaking .......................................16
2.4 A redefined relationship between environment and
construction ........................................20
2.5 Changes in public policies addressing construction
and environment ....................................24
2.6 Challenges for policy makers..........................28
2.7 Suggested policy improvements: will they work? .........34

3 Policy networks: a theoretical perspective on
policy making.......................................39
3.1 Introduction ........................................39
3.2 A single-actor perspective on policy making .............39
3.3 Taking the multi-actor context into account .............42
3.4 Policy networks as forms of collaborative governance .....44
3.5 Analysing policy networks ............................47
3.6 Towards prescription: governing network governance .....52
3.7 Promises and pitfalls of meta-governance ...............56
3.8 Conclusion .........................................61

4 Evaluating an evolutionary policy network approach
to learning .........................................63
4.1 Introduction ........................................63
4.2 Evaluation in policy network approaches................63
4.3 Learning within policy networks .......................66
4.4 Policy learning and policy change ......................70
4.5 An evolutionary perspective to policy learning ...........73
4.6 Learning as processes of variation, selection and
retention ...........................................75
4.7 Discussion and reflection .............................83

5 Methodology .......................................85
5.1 Introduction ........................................85
5.2 Research methodology ...............................85
5.3 Case selection.......................................86
5.4 Research steps and operationalisation ..................88

6 Reducing diffuse zinc emisssions .....................93
6.1 Introduction to the policy.............................93
6.2 Methodology........................................94
6.3 The policy process arrangements dealing with zinc.......95
6.4 The policy issue and its environment..................104
6.4.1 Issues in the policy process ..........................104
6.4.2 Arenas in the policy process..........................104
6.4.3 Policy networks in the policy process ..................108
6.4.4 Some first observations..............................109
6.5 Perceptions and strategies in the policy process .........110
6.5.1 Perceptions ........................................111
6.5.2 Strategies in the policy process .......................112
6.6 The lessons learned.................................116
6.7 Evaluating the learning from an evolutionary
perspective ........................................119
6.8 Conclusions........................................126

7 Stimulating sustainable building .....................129
7.1 Introduction to the policy............................129
7.2 Methodology.......................................130
7.3 The policy process ..................................131
7.4 The policy issue and its environment..................149
7.4.1 Issues in the policy process ..........................149
7.4.2 Networks in the policy process .......................150
7.4.3 Arenas in the policy process..........................152
7.5 Perceptions and strategies in the policy process .........155
7.6 The lessons learned.................................159
7.7 Evaluating the learning from an evolutionary
perspective ........................................162
7.8 Conclusions........................................167
8 Restricting urban sprawl ............................171
8.1 Introduction to the policy............................171
8.2 Methodology.......................................173
8.3 Reconstruction of the policy process...................174
8.4 The policy issue and its environment..................189
8.4.1 Issues in the policy process ..........................189
8.4.2 Arenas in the policy process..........................190
8.4.3 Networks in the policy process .......................192
8.4.4 Some observations about the policy environment........195
8.5 Perceptions and strategies in the policy process .........198
8.6 The lessons learned.................................200
8.7 Evaluating the learning from an evolutionary
perspective ........................................203
8.8 Conclusions........................................210

9 Greening governance: lessons for policy design ........213
9.1 Introduction .......................................213
9.2 An evolutionary perspective to learning in policy
networks ..........................................213
9.3 Learning in the policy processes ......................217
9.4 Variety in the policy process..........................221
9.5 Selection in the policy process........................225
9.6 Retention in the policy process: preservation ...........228
9.7 Retention in the policy process: regeneration ...........233
9.8 Conclusions........................................236
9.9 Reflections for policy design..........................239
References.........................................245

Appendix I Methodology for Chapter 6 ..........................271
Appendix II Methodology for Chapter 7 ..........................273
Appendix III Methodology for Chapter 8 ..........................275
Appendix IV Greening governance in practice: A serious game for
sustainable urban renewal ..........................279
I Introduction .......................................279
II Supporting sustainable decision-making in urban
renewal projects....................................280
III The modelling environment for design impact
assessment (MEDIA) ................................284
IV The DUBES game ...................................287
V Findings and insights ...............................293
VI How the evolutionary approach influenced the game
design ............................................300
VII Summary and conclusion............................304
References Appendix IV .............................306

Summary (English) .................................311

Summary (Dutch)...................................317

Curriculum Vitae ...................................325