Effective and fair renovation in Rotterdam BoTu

In many places across the country, efforts to disconnect enough homes from the gas grid are proving unsuccessful. However, in the Rotterdam neighbourhood of Bospolder Tussendijken (BoTu), plans are on track. That is why part of the Just Prepare research will focus on BoTu for several years. We want to investigate what it takes to achieve goals effectively and whether this can be combined with a fair approach.

We are conducting this research in close consultation with the local council, the Havensteder housing association, energy company Eneco, social entrepreneur De Verbindingskamer and residents' organisations. This has resulted in a focus on the renovation of the Gijsinglaanflats. These flats are connected to a district heating system and are better insulated to ensure significantly greater energy savings and living comfort.

With a team of researchers, we investigated the challenges involved in such a renovation project in various areas: technical, social, governance and professionalism. We looked specifically at the tension between effectiveness (achieving the intended results on time) and fairness (the distribution of benefits and burdens, the recognition of residents and who was allowed to participate in consultations). We conducted interviews with employees of the municipality, Havensteder and Eneco, we interviewed the founder of De Verbindingskamer and we interviewed residents from the Gijsinglaanflats.

The common thread running through the results of our research is that BoTu succeeded in being effective and fair at the same time, thanks to a combination of good agreements between the municipality, Havensteder and Eneco and a very intensive, strongly resident-focused approach. As a result, the renovations were completed within the set time frame, the costs for residents did not increase, there was a great deal of recognition for the problems raised by residents, and residents were involved in decisions about the implementation of the project.

The research shows that effectiveness and fairness do not have to be mutually exclusive in the energy transition, but that they can actually reinforce each other.

Would you like to know more? In the PDF document you can find here, you will see a presentation of our findings. We first outline four puzzles relating to the challenges mentioned on four fronts. We then discuss a number of important observations that run through these puzzles, and for each puzzle, we provide some insights from our work. We conclude with a number of useful lessons for authorities, the neighbourhood and professionals.

This research was conducted by PhD researchers Charissa Leiwakabessy and Diletta Ricci, together with senior researchers Thaleia Konstantinou, Thomas Hoppe and Aksel Ersoy from TU Delft and Floris Vermeulen, Mendel Giezen and Imrat Verhoeven from the University of Amsterdam.